A cameraman documenting the ongoing Los Angeles riots captured a uniformed sniper pointing a scoped rifle at the crowd below.
Ford Fischer, co-founder of the independent media outlet News2Share, posted a thread with video footage of the rifleman to the social media platform X on Friday.
“POV: You’re filming some protests and you have a camera with 20X optical zoom,” Fischer wrote.
POV: You’re filming some protests and you have a camera with 20X optical zoom.
Video to come. pic.twitter.com/j8It6G7jgR
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) June 13, 2025
“Anti-ICE protesters gathered again outside the loading bay of a federal building in downtown LA on Thursday evening, where police declared an unlawful assembly. Officers pushed into the crowd, firing a less lethal round and arresting at least one person,” Fischer wrote in his thread.
VIDEO THREAD: Anti-ICE protesters gathered again outside the loading bay of a federal building in downtown LA on Thursday evening, where police declared an unlawful assembly.
Officers pushed into the crowd, firing a less lethal round and arresting at least one person. pic.twitter.com/PpMTPL47bm
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) June 13, 2025
In his next post, Fischer shared the footage of the sniper perched on a building above the crowd.
Will the protests in L.A. spread nationwide?
“A man (not clear to me which agency) pointed a scoped rifle directly into the crowd of protesters and press as police threatened arrest,” Fischer wrote.
WATCH https://t.co/b4ZvbAtzbO
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) June 13, 2025
X users speculated about the rifleman.
“Pretty sure that patch is for Department Of Homeland Securities (Special Response Team),” one user wrote. “They typically perform over watch duties on Federal Buildings in these type of situations.”
Pretty sure that patch is for Department Of Homeland Securities (Special Response Team).
They typically perform over watch duties on Federal Buildings in these type of situations. pic.twitter.com/OurP0Lb3Jd
— Bobby Freeman 🇺🇸 (@BobbyFreemanUS) June 13, 2025
“Yeah. Dude is doing overwatch,” another user wrote.
Yeah. Dude is doing overwatch.
— Bang Switch Actuator (@BangSwitch5000) June 14, 2025
Fischer later posted an update that the sniper had stopped pointing his rifle at the crowd.
“While new footage from Friday night does show snipers at the same location on the federal building in LA, they appear to now be using binoculars rather than rifle scopes to observe the crowd,” he wrote.
BIG UPDATE: While new footage from Friday night does show snipers at the same location on the federal building in LA, they appear to now be using binoculars rather than rifle scopes to observe the crowd.https://t.co/H9P4jgpfOj pic.twitter.com/jR2Em8E3QH
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) June 14, 2025
The ongoing riots and protests, which are igniting in cities across the country, began in Los Angeles on June 6 after Immigration and Customs Enforcement executed a number of deportation raids in the city.
More protests are set to kick off Saturday as the “No Kings” anti-Trump movement sweeps across American cities, according to KTLA-TV in Los Angeles.
“They’ve defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services,” the No Kings website read. “The corruption has gone too. far. No thrones. No crowns. No kings.”
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