A 21-year-old demonstrator says he was permanently blinded in one eye after an ICE officer fired a less-lethal projectile at close range during a protest outside a federal building in Santa Ana. He claims agents mocked him as he asked for medical help and The Department of Homeland Security disputes these claims.
The confrontation occurred Friday outside a federal immigration building. Demonstrators had gathered to protest the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis two days earlier by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Video reviewed by the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press shows officers in riot gear approaching the crowd and using crowd-control weapons as tensions grew.
Kaden Rummler, who was using a megaphone, told the Los Angeles Times he was struck in the face by a less-lethal round. He later learned he had lost vision in his left eye. Family members told the newspaper he underwent hours of surgery.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Rummler said he asked federal officers to call an ambulance, but they instead taunted him. He described the moments after he was hit as chaotic and believed he would never see out of his left eye again.
The Associated Press reported that Rummler suffered serious facial injuries and permanently lost vision in his left eye. The video shows a federal officer dragging a demonstrator who had been hit. The protest later resulted in citations and arrests.
NEW: 21-year-old anti-ICE protester claims he lost sight in one eye after being shot at close range by federal officers with a nonlethal weapon in Santa Ana
Kaden Rummler says he was not being violent and was holding a loudspeaker when grabbed
Doctors told him he will never… pic.twitter.com/NcLBETJMxm
— Unlimited L’s (@unlimited_ls) January 14, 2026
Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at DHS, rejected the protesters’ accounts and labeled the crowd as violent rioters, noting that two officers were injured. She stated two protesters were arrested and charged, including for assault on a federal officer and disorderly conduct, according to various reports.
Santa Ana police reported that demonstrators threw orange traffic cones at federal agents but were not aware of other violence at the event, based on accounts from the Los Angeles Times and the AP.
The protest was one of several recent demonstrations related to the Minneapolis shooting, which federal officials have called an attack on law enforcement. The Justice Department stated this week that it found no reason to open a civil rights investigation into Good’s death, but an FBI investigation is ongoing.
In Santa Ana, video taken by local journalist OC Hawk and shared by news organizations shows officers moving toward a group of demonstrators as the crowd yelled and backed away. The AP noted that an orange cone rolled onto the plaza near officers just before they fired crowd-control rounds.
A second demonstrator, Skye Jones, was taken into custody during the incident and held for nearly three days before being released on Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times. Jones told the newspaper, “When confronting those who enforce ICE terror, they will snatch us out of a crowd, they will shoot us point blank with pepper-ball bullets, and they will throw us to the ground.”
Federal authorities have not publicly identified the officer who fired the projectile at Rummler, and DHS has not disclosed what type of less-lethal munition was used. The AP reported that Rummler received a citation for disorderly conduct.
Advocates and civil liberties groups have called for an independent review of both the Santa Ana incident and the Minneapolis shooting. Meanwhile, DHS officials have stated that federal agents will continue enforcement operations and will pursue criminal cases against those accused of assaulting officers or interfering with federal actions.
