Police lights activated on an Evansville Police Department vehicle.
Alameda, California – Law enforcement officers opened fire late Thursday night at a vehicle that authorities say tried to back into the entrance of the U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda, California — the same site where hundreds had gathered earlier that day to protest the arrival of federal immigration agents.
The Coast Guard said the shooting took place around 10 p.m., after security personnel on duty saw a vehicle “driving erratically and attempting to back into Coast Guard Base Alameda.”
According to a statement, guards issued “multiple verbal commands” for the driver to stop, but the vehicle continued to reverse toward the gate. “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.
No Coast Guard personnel were hurt.
Officials confirmed that the FBI is leading the investigation and said more information will be released as it becomes available.
Local media identified the vehicle as a U-Haul truck. The Mercury News reported that two men, including one believed to be the driver, later arrived at nearby hospitals seeking treatment for gunshot wounds. Their conditions remain unknown.
The shooting capped a tense day in the Bay Area. Earlier Thursday, hundreds of demonstrators had gathered outside the base to protest the Trump administration’s plan to deploy more than 100 federal immigration agents to San Francisco and surrounding counties. The agents were expected to be stationed at the Alameda Coast Guard facility as part of a new “immigration enforcement surge.”
Chants of “No ICE or troops in the Bay!” echoed across the island throughout the afternoon. By evening, police had deployed flash-bang grenades to break up the crowd as a line of Customs and Border Protection vehicles rolled through the gates.
But just hours later, President Donald Trump abruptly announced that he was shelving the deployment. The president said he decided to hold off after conversations with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and several Silicon Valley business leaders. Trump claimed the talks had been “productive,” though he did not explain the sudden reversal.
For weeks, the administration had insisted that a federal presence in San Francisco was needed to combat what Trump described as “out-of-control crime.” Local officials disputed that claim, pointing to data showing that violent and property crime rates have fallen steadily this year.
Now, the FBI’s investigation into Thursday’s shooting is expected to determine whether the incident was connected to the protests or simply a chaotic moment at the height of a volatile political standoff.
What’s clear is that the clash at the Alameda base — between security forces, protesters, and a vehicle barreling toward a gate — brought the national tension over immigration enforcement directly to the Bay Area’s doorstep.
