Local Media Update Report About LAPD Officers

By
Mark Stevens
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In a sobering press conference Sunday night, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell addressed the city’s spiraling unrest, revealing disturbing new details about the anti-ICE demonstrations that have descended into chaos. Flanked by senior department leaders, McDonnell offered a blunt assessment of the situation: law enforcement has been overwhelmed, and the violence is escalating.


Since Saturday, at least 56 arrests have been made—39 by LAPD and 17 more by California Highway Patrol—with additional detentions likely as investigators continue to comb through video evidence. Among those taken into custody were a suspect accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at an officer and a motorcyclist who rammed a police skirmish line.


The violent tactics deployed by rioters stunned even seasoned officers. Protesters reportedly threw rocks, scooters, and other debris from overpasses onto police cruisers parked along the 101 Freeway. At least one attempt was made to set cruisers on fire, while others launched commercial-grade fireworks directly at law enforcement.

“That can kill you,” McDonnell warned. “We have adapted our tactics to be able to have a chance to take these people into custody and to hold them accountable.”


McDonnell admitted that the scale of the violence has challenged the department’s ability to respond effectively. Officers described improvised weaponry and coordinated tactics among rioters—including backpacks stuffed with cinderblocks, later broken apart and distributed as projectiles.

Despite the federal deployment of National Guard troops to the area, McDonnell stated that the LAPD’s interaction with the Guard has been limited. He emphasized that, under normal protocol, LAPD would have first requested mutual aid from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and neighboring agencies before considering military support.


When asked whether the city needs the National Guard, McDonnell hesitated: “Do we need them? Look at tonight, this has gotten out of control. I’d have to know more about what their capabilities are, what their role is intended to be.”

To a city already on edge, McDonnell sought to draw a sharp line between federal deportation operations and local policing. Reaffirming a policy in place since 1979, he stated that LAPD does not participate in federal immigration enforcement, nor does it share information with federal agencies.


“I can’t stress this enough,” he said. “We want everybody to be able to call LAPD in time of need or if they’ve been a witness to a crime. We need that, otherwise the system does not work.”


Chief McDonnell also made a point to distinguish peaceful demonstrators from those inciting violence. “There are people who do this all the time, get away with whatever they can, going from one civil unrest situation to another using similar tactics and they are connected,” he warned.


He expressed gratitude to those who had protested peacefully, underscoring that the daytime demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights were not the same individuals fueling the nighttime violence.

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