Coast Guard fires rubber bullets at car outside base blockade

Protesters return to Alameda's Coast Guard base for third night

Protesters gathered outside Coast Guard Island for a third night, remaining peaceful but defiant after Coast Guard security officers shot and wounded a U-Haul driver during demonstrations against federal immigration enforcement.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Members of the U.S. Coast Guard fired rubber bullets Friday at a car that was moving toward a barricade separating them from protesters outside Coast Guard Island, officials said.

"Non-lethal force was used to deter a vehicle approaching the Base Alameda gate. The vehicle departed the area without further incident," the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Witnesses told KTVU that the car passed through an intersection where protesters had gathered, then drove toward a barricade outside Coast Guard Island and began circling. That’s when Coast Guard members opened fire with rubber bullets, they said.

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Coast Guard fires at U-Haul in Oakland amid immigration protest; driver in FBI custody

The FBI is investigating a shooting that occurred late Thursday night near the entrance to Coast Guard Island between Oakland and Alameda — the same location where a day-long protest against a called-off federal immigration operation had taken place hours earlier.

Follows earlier U-Haul shooting outside base

The incident came one day after a separate shooting outside the base, when Coast Guard members fired at the driver of a U-Haul truck who reversed toward them, officials said.

No Coast Guard personnel were injured. Officers issued "multiple verbal commands" to stop, but the driver failed to comply and "suddenly accelerating backward at a high rate of speed directly toward them," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

"When the vehicle’s actions posed a direct threat to the safety of Coast Guard and security personnel, law enforcement officers discharged several rounds of defensive live fire," they added.

Bystander wounded, driver in FBI custody

Initial reports said the U-Haul driver was shot in the stomach, but KTVU later learned the driver was instead wounded by shrapnel. A bystander was the person shot in the stomach and remains hospitalized but is expected to survive, officials said.

After being released from the hospital, the U-Haul driver was taken into custody by the FBI.

Video from the scene appeared to show a U-Haul truck attempting to back into the base.

"The Coast Guard was yelling for them to get off, several times, they gave them a lot of chances, and the minute he got way too close, they started firing," said a witness who identified himself as Sharky.

Witnesses say rubber bullets fired outside Coast Guard Island

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard fired rubber bullets Friday at a car that was moving toward a barricade separating them from protesters outside Coast Guard Island, officials said.

Protests preceded both incidents

The incidents on Thursday and Friday occurred at the same location where protesters assembled to condemn a now-canceled federal immigration operation in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tensions escalated Friday evening, as dozens of CHP officers arrived to make sure Coast Guard personnel could safely leave the base in their cars. The protest, though smaller, continued even after President Trump called off the planned surge. 

"They can change their minds in the next hour, right? So we don't know, we know that we can't trust them. Our purpose here is to keep our communities safe," one protester who did not want to be identified said.

Protest organizers were heard urging each other to remain calm and nonviolent, and not give federal agents a reason to move in.