A live artillery shell exploded prematurely during a Marine live-fire demonstration launched over a Southern California highway in celebration of the military branch’s 250th anniversary, raining shrapnel on a California Highway Patrol vehicle and a motorcycle that was part of JD Vance’s detachment, according to a police report.
The New York Times reported that falling fragments from the 155mm projectile landed on vehicles parked on a ramp of Interstate 5 – a major artery through Southern California – that Gov. Gavin Newsom had ordered closed after learning that military officials had no plans to close the highway.
Vance, a Republican and former enlisted Marine who served in Iraq, visited the base in northern San Diego County with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to celebrate the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary and watch troops perform an amphibious vehicle show and Marines demonstrate a beach assault.
One officer described hearing what sounded like rocks hitting his motorcycle and the area around him, according to the patrol report. Others saw a 2-inch (5 cm) piece of shrapnel hit the hood of a patrol car and leave a small dent. The report says shrapnel was also found on the road near the motorcycle.
The CHP closed a 17-mile (27-kilometer) stretch of highway for periods before and during Saturday’s exercise, in a surprise announcement early Saturday morning. The last-minute closure caused serious traffic delays Saturday morning and early afternoon.
The exercise was canceled after the projectile exploded prematurely, CHP said, and the area was swept for projectile fragments, but none were found. A Marine Corps spokesperson at Camp Pendleton told the New York Times that the force was aware of the CHP report and that an investigation was underway.
Newsom had strongly opposed what he called a “absurd show of force” and “totally unnecessary.”
“The president is putting his ego before responsibility with this disregard for public safety,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “Firing live ammunition on a busy road is not only wrong, it’s dangerous. Using our military to intimidate people you disagree with is not strength; it’s reckless, it’s disrespectful, and it’s beneath the position you hold.”
U.S. Marine officials had said there was nothing dangerous about the exercise at Camp Pendleton, where firing artillery is a routine occurrence, and that it was unnecessary to disrupt traffic on I5, which is the main highway along the Pacific coast between San Diego and Los Angeles.
“This was an unusual and concerning situation,” California Highway Patrol division chief Tony Coronado said of Saturday’s incident. “It is very rare for any live fire or explosives training activity to take place on an active highway. As a Marine, I have tremendous respect for our military partners, but my primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of the people of California and the officers who protect them.”
State transportation officials ultimately made the decision to close the highway after Friday night’s practice shootouts and a request from event organizers for signs to be posted along the highway saying “aerial fire in progress.”
“This is all due to the military event led by the White House, that for the safety of the public, we need to close the freeway as they are sending out live ordinances on the freeway,” said Matt Rocco, spokesman for the California Department of Transportation.
The closure of I5 caused significant traffic jams for those traveling between San Diego and Los Angeles. The highway carries 80,000 travelers and $94 million in freight through the corridor daily, according to the governor’s office. Passenger rail services running parallel to I5 were also canceled in the afternoon.
Rep. Darrell Issa, who represents a district east of the base, called it “a spiteful publicity stunt” by Newsom.
In a statement to the New York Times on Saturday, a spokesman for Vance, William Martin, said Newsom misled the public about the security risk.
“If Gavin Newsom wants to oppose training exercises that ensure our Armed Forces are the deadliest and most lethal fighting force in the world, then he can go ahead,” Martin said.
Newsom aware on social media Sunday: “We love our Marines and owe Camp Pendleton a debt of gratitude, but next time the Vice President and the White House shouldn’t be so reckless with people’s lives for their vanity projects.”
