Demonstrator injured after federal agent fired projectile from close range during California protest

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A demonstrator was hit in the face with a projectile fired by a federal officer at close range during a Southern California protest, leaving him bloodied and with serious injuries, according to video and accounts from fellow protesters and family on Tuesday.

The Friday gathering outside the federal immigration building in the city of Santa Ana was in response to the shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis by a federal agent, which has kicked off a wave of protests around the country.

Hundreds of people had marched in the streets in Santa Ana until a smaller group was left outside the federal building by evening, shouting expletives through megaphones about Immigration and Customs Enforcement, video showed. At one point, they burned what appeared to be an American flag on the steps of the building while shouting “Justice for Renee Good.”

The demonstrators came up onto the plaza, where a handful of agents stood in riot gear and held crowd-control gear. At one point, officials forcefully move a demonstrator back down onto the steps, and the group continues to chant as the agents appear to urge them to move back. Later, an orange cone can be seen rolling up onto the plaza, and officers begin firing munitions as they walk toward the crowd. It is not clear if the cones were thrown and by whom.

The injured demonstrator, identified as 21-year-old Kaden Rummler by his aunt, is seen on video shouting through a megaphone along with others outside the building, where several officers are stationed in riot gear. The officers approached the crowd then grabbed another demonstrator by the arm, identified in a federal criminal complaint as Katelyn Skye Seitz, pulling them onto the steps.

In response, Rummler and a few other demonstrators step forward shouting. One of the officers fires a crowd-control weapon, striking Rummler from several feet away. Rummler grabs his face and falls to the ground. An officer grabs Rummler by the shirt and drags him backward across the ground, the video shows. His face is bloody and other demonstrators shout “leave him alone.” Officers take Rummler into the federal building, and later video appears to show him face down on the ground being handcuffed.

Video of the incident was taken by OC Hawk, which films breaking news in Orange County.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, called the group violent rioters and said that two officers were injured. Two protesters were arrested and charged with assault on a federal officer and disorderly conduct, she said. She did not respond to questions about the nature of the officers’ injuries or the injury of the protester.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn't answer questions about what type of projectiles were fired, but another protester said Tuesday they were pepper balls.

Rummler was blinded in his left eye, according to his aunt, Jeri Rees.

Rees said her nephew, a college student, was in the hospital for two days and underwent six hours of surgery to his left eye.

She said he was released from the hospital Tuesday while doctors work to determine what the fragments are made of to assess whether additional procedures are needed to remove them. Rees said he was hit in the left eye and suffered skull fractures.

“He’s completely blind” in that eye, she said. “There’s a hole in his eyeball.”

Rees said her nephew was given a citation for disorderly conduct.

In a statement read by another protester Tuesday, Rummler said he felt ringing and pressure around his skull and was dragged toward the building bleeding while struggling to breathe.

“I will never see through my left eye again, not even light,” he said in the statement. “I’m just glad I’m alive to tell my story.”

It was not immediately possible to independently confirm details of the injuries. The fellow protesters, from the group Dare to Struggle, declined to say what hospital he had been taken to.

Seitz, one of the arrested protesters, said the group was there to “rightly protest the brutal execution of Renee Good, and the government agencies that uphold ICE’s ongoing brutality.” Seitz identified themselves at the news conference as Skye Jones.

A federal complaint alleges Seitz failed to leave the property despite warnings and threw an orange cone at officers, then resisted arrest and struck an officer on the shoulder and in the groin. Details weren't immediately available about the second set of charges filed, and the U.S. Attorney's Office didn't immediately respond to questions about them.

Additional video shows demonstrators still gathered and shouting at agents after the confrontation breaks out. Some officers are standing at the door to the building, and another demonstrator approaches. Officers can be heard firing more rounds. The protester walks back toward the group covered in a white powder. He appears to have a cut on his face, and other demonstrators call for a medic.

Kaden Rummler, who was injured after being hit with a projectile fired by a federal agent during a protest outside an immigration building in Santa Ana, Calif., poses for a portrait Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Southern California. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Kaden Rummler, who was injured after being hit with a projectile fired by a federal agent during a protest outside an immigration building in Santa Ana, Calif., sits on a couch at home Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Southern California. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Kaden Rummler, who was injured after being hit with a projectile fired by a federal agent during a protest outside an immigration building in Santa Ana, Calif., plays the bass at home Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Southern California. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Kaden Rummler, who was injured after being hit with a projectile fired by a federal agent during a protest outside an immigration building in Santa Ana, Calif., poses for a portrait Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Southern California. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Skye Jones, right, with Dare to Struggle, speaks during a news conference outside the Santa Ana Police Department in Santa Ana, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, following a recent protest outside a federal building in the city. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Christina Castillo, center, with Dare to Struggle, speaks during a news conference outside the Santa Ana Police Department in Santa Ana, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, following a recent protest outside a federal building in the city. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization sought Saturday to reassure residents of the Spanish island where passengers of a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are expected to be evacuated, issuing them a direct message that the virus was “not another COVID.”

The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, is headed to Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, and is expected to arrive at the island of Tenerife early Sunday.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, were due on the island Saturday to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.

“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Tedros said in a message to the people of Tenerife.

“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” Tedros added.

The WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus.

Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus.

Some on Tenerife say they are worried. On board the cruise ship, some Spanish passengers have voiced concern about being stigmatized.

“I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” said 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat from another country here? Why not anywhere else, why bring it to the Canary Islands?”

Others said they empathized with the boat's passengers, but were still concerned.

“The truth is that it is very worrying,” said 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero. She added: “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it. This is a virus after all and we have lived this during the pandemic. But we also need to have empathy.”

Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said passengers and some crew would disembark in Tenerife “under maximum safety conditions.”

The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms and won't be taken off the ship until a flight is already in Tenerife waiting to fly them off the island, Garcia said during a news conference in Madrid. There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.

Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.

All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, Garcia said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.

Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, Garcia said, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.

Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, the minister added.

According to a letter sent by the Dutch foreign and health ministers to parliament late Friday, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane equipped for infections diseases to be on standby in case anyone on the ship becomes ill. That person would then be transported by air to the European mainland.

The Dutch government will work with Spanish authorities and the ship company to arrange repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew as soon as possible after arrival in Tenerife, subject to medical conditions and advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the letter said. Those without symptoms will go into home quarantine for six weeks and be monitored by local health services.

As the ship is Dutch-flagged, the Netherlands may also temporarily accommodate people of other nationalities and monitor them in quarantine, it said.

Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.

On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator have said.

It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger.

Dutch public health authorities have been monitoring people who were on a flight that was briefly boarded by a Dutch ship passenger who later died and was confirmed to have hantavirus. Three people who were on the flight and had symptoms have all tested negative for hantavirus, Dutch National Institute for Public Health spokesperson Harald Wychgel told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Becatoros reported from Sparta, Greece. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Helena Alves in Tenerife contributed to this report.

A Spanish Civil Guard officer inspects the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Media crew members stand in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Workers set up temporary shelters in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Passengers on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, scan the horizon with binoculars during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)

Passengers on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)

A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)

Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)

A passenger on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, takes a photo of the ship's weighing anchor in Praia, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)