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U.S. Coast Guard personnel opened fire Thursday night on a U-Haul truck after its driver ignored commands to stop at the entrance of a California base, the agency said.
Dramatic video shows the box truck with its headlights on reversing toward security personnel stationed around a vehicle outside Coast Guard Base Alameda at around 10 p.m.
Moments later, flashes of gunfire erupted as officers shouted orders from a barricade. The U-Haul driver then hit the gas and accelerated forward.
The Coast Guard said security personnel standing watch on Coast Guard Island had witnessed the U-Haul truck “driving erratically and attempting to back into the base.”
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Officers at the entrance then “discharged several rounds of live fire” after the driver of the U-Haul ignored “multiple verbal commands” to stop and then proceeded to back in toward the base’s entrance, according to the Coast Guard.
“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 live fire,” the agency said in a statement.
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The Coast Guard confirmed no personnel were injured during the incident.
The U-Haul had been parked outside the base for the better part of the day, CBS reported. The driver then fled after the shooting, the outlet reported.
Photographs from the aftermath of the scene show officials inspecting the abandoned box truck.
Two men arrived at local hospitals for gunshot wounds after the shooting, according to The Mercury News. One of them is believed to be the driver of the U-Haul, the outlet said, citing sources.
The incident followed a protest outside the entrance on Thursday, during which demonstrators attempted to block U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents from entering the base, according to WABC-TV.
Dozens of California Highway Patrol officers wearing riot gear tried to disperse the crowd in order to allow civilian employees to leave. Two people were detained and taken away, the outlet reported.
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that his planned “surge” of federal troops to San Francisco had been postponed after he spoke with friends of his in the area who said the city’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, was making progress in tackling crime. Trump said on Truth Social that he spoke to Lurie and agreed to call off the move for now.
The base was meant to have been a staging area for the troops, local reports said.
Coast Guard Island is a 67-acre human-made island formed in 1913 in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda. It is federally owned, does not allow visits from the general public without an escort or specific government identification and has been home to the current base, Base Alameda, since 2012, according to a Coast Guard document from 2016 cited by The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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