SANTA ANA, Calif. – A protester sustained severe facial injuries after being struck by a projectile fired by a federal officer at close proximity during a demonstration in Southern California. This incident, captured on video, was recounted by fellow activists at a news conference on Tuesday.

The protest on Friday took place outside the federal immigration office in Santa Ana, sparked by the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal agent in Minneapolis. This event has ignited a series of demonstrations nationwide.

As the day unfolded, hundreds of participants marched through Santa Ana’s streets, eventually leaving a smaller group outside the federal building by nightfall. They chanted criticisms of Immigration and Customs Enforcement through megaphones, as depicted in the footage. At one stage, protesters set what appeared to be an American flag ablaze on the building’s steps, demanding “Justice for Renee Good.”

As tensions escalated, the group advanced onto the plaza where several agents, equipped with riot and crowd-control gear, stood their ground. Tensions flared as officials physically repositioned a demonstrator onto the steps. The crowd maintained its chants while agents attempted to disperse them. The situation intensified when an orange cone rolled onto the plaza, prompting officers to discharge munitions as they advanced toward the protesters. The origin of the cone remains uncertain.

The injured protester, referred to by peers and family only as “K,” was observed on video using a megaphone alongside other demonstrators near the building, where officers in riot gear were deployed. During the confrontation, officers allegedly pulled another protester, identified as Katelyn Skye Seitz in a federal complaint, onto the steps by the arm.

In response, “K” and a few other demonstrators step forward shouting. One of the officers fires a crowd-control weapon, striking “K” from several feet away. “K” grabs his face and falls to the ground. An officer grabs “K” by the shirt and drags him backward across the ground, the video shows. His face is bloody and other demonstrators shout “leave him alone.” Officers take “K” into the federal building, and later video appears to show him face down on the ground being handcuffed.

Video of the incident was taken by OC Hawk, which films breaking news in Orange County.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, called the group violent rioters and said that two officers were injured. Two protesters were arrested and charged with assault on a federal officer and disorderly conduct, she said. She did not respond to questions about the nature of the officers’ injuries or the injury of the protester.

Protester says he lost sight in his left eye

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t answer questions about what type of projectiles were fired, but another protester said Tuesday they were pepper balls.

“K” was blinded in his left eye, according to his aunt, Jeri Rees.

Rees said her nephew, a 21-year-old college student, was in the hospital for two days and underwent six hours of surgery to his left eye.

She said he was released from the hospital Tuesday while doctors work to determine what the fragments are made of to assess whether additional procedures are needed to remove them. Rees said he was hit in the left eye and suffered skull fractures.

“He’s completely blind” in that eye, she said. “There’s a hole in his eyeball.”

Rees said her nephew was given a citation for disorderly conduct.

In a statement read by another protester Tuesday, “K” said he felt ringing and pressure around his skull and was dragged toward the building bleeding while struggling to breathe.

“I will never see through my left eye again, not even light,” he said in the statement. “I’m just glad I’m alive to tell my story.”

It was not immediately possible to independently confirm details of the injuries. The fellow protesters, from the group Dare to Struggle, declined to say what hospital he had been taken to.

Seitz, one of the arrested protesters, said the group was there to “rightly protest the brutal execution of Renee Good, and the government agencies that uphold ICE’s ongoing brutality.” Seitz identified themselves at the news conference as Skye Jones.

A federal complaint alleges Seitz failed to leave the property despite warnings and threw an orange cone at officers, then resisted arrest and struck an officer on the shoulder and in the groin. Details weren’t immediately available about the second set of charges filed, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately respond to questions about them.

Additional video shows demonstrators still gathered and shouting at agents after the confrontation breaks out. Some officers are standing at the door to the building, and another demonstrator approaches. Officers can be heard firing more rounds. The protester walks back toward the group covered in a white powder. He appears to have a cut on his face, and other demonstrators call for a medic.