The high school students suspected of injuring two federal officers during anti-ICE riots on Feb. 13 used frozen water bottles as projectiles, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said Tuesday.
The new detail came during McDonnell‘s remarks at a Police Commission meeting as part of his rundown of protest activity in the city since Feb. 9.
McDonnell said unidentified suspects threw frozen water bottles at two Federal Protection Service Officers charged with protecting the Federal Building downtown during the wild anti-ICE melee, “resulting in one officer sustaining a head injury and one officer sustaining a laceration above the right eye.”
In a separate incident at the same protest, one ICE agent was struck in the head with a rock resulting in a injury, Department of Homeland Security officials said.
No arrests have been made in either incident. Reports were filed for assault with a deadly weapon in both incidents, McDonnell said.
McDonnell said about 200 students participated in the school walkout and anti-ICE demonstration that turned violent on Feb. 13.
Students from Thomas Jefferson High School, Maya Angelou Community High School and the Santee Education Complex were directed on social media to use Metro Transit and gather at Santee Education Complex, McDonnell said.
The group marched to City Hall and then to the Federal Building on Los Angeles Street, where participants “began to bang on windows and doors near the entrance” of the building before proceeding to the federal detention center, where the demonstrators “flooded the loading dock area and were confronted by Federal Service Protection agents,” McDonnell said.
“Members of the group threw frozen water bottles, striking two Federal Protective Service agents,” during the riotous confrontation that then unfolded, the chief said.
No LAPD personnel were injured and no arrests were made during the fracas, the chief said.
Shocking footage taken during the Feb. 13 protest showed a huge mob of demonstrators swarming around officers who drew their Tasers and pushed the protestors back down the street.
Another clip saw a demonstrator dangerously swinging a pole at an agent, hitting him at least twice.
Another showed a cop wrestling with a woman before she was grappled back by the crowd and appeared to flee the scene.
McDonnell said students who participated in a separate planned walkout and anti-ICE demonstration in downtown LA on Feb. 9 also threw water bottles, but no injuries were reported and no arrests were made.
The chief last week urged students to stay in school and avoid dangerous protests, after three weeks of anti-ICE demonstrations in which officers and protesters were hurt.
McDonnell’s plea came after a series of wild anti-ICE protests on three consecutive Fridays in downtown LA where teens were seen burning flags, vandalizing buildings ad throwing objects at officers.
Separately, the LAPD also last week warned “there may be legal consequences for parents and students” if youngsters cut class to attend protests of any kind.
Far-left activists have urged LA students take to the streets against ICE, with a group called ‘Dare To Struggle SoCal’ telling kids to bail class and “rebel against” federal agents.
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has generated some controversy with remarks that criticized ICE, but he has also urged students to stay in school amid the anti-ICE walkouts that occurred this month.
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has released pictures of two teens suspected of attacking ICE agents during the demonstration on Feb. 13 and promised to “criminally prosecute” them.
“Violent agitators will be criminally prosecuted, juveniles included,” Essayli said.
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