Student Photographer Covering LA 'No Kings' Rally Loses Right Eye After Alleged DHS Shooting

A student photographer covering the Los Angeles 'No Kings' rally has lost his right eye after being struck by what his lawyer says was a less-lethal projectile fired by a Department of Homeland Security agent during clashes outside the Metropolitan Detention Center on 28 March.

The student, 18-year-old Tucker Collins, a freshman at the University of Southern California, is now preparing for legal action.

The 'No Kings' rally in downtown Los Angeles was part of a massive anti-Trump protest staged across the United States. Much of the day in LA was peaceful, but tensions escalated later near the federal detention centre, where officers and demonstrators faced off amid dispersal orders, tear gas, and arrests. That is the setting in which Collins, who had gone there to take photographs, was injured.

Student Photographer Hurt At LA 'No Kings' Rally

According to Collins' attorney, V. James DeSimone, the teenager was hit directly in the eye by a projectile that appeared to contain chemical irritants. DeSimone told the Los Angeles Times that Collins was moved to the side of the protest and initially given an eye patch before a nurse who happened to be passing by took him to the hospital.

Doctors later removed his right eye, the lawyer said.

'We've unfortunately seen in other instances where law enforcement has targeted the press with violence,' DeSimone said, arguing that Collins appeared to have been documenting events rather than threatening officers.

The incident cuts directly into press freedom and the basic expectation that journalists, students, or otherwise, should not risk catastrophic injury for doing their job.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Los Angeles Times. That silence, at least for now, leaves the public with one side of the account and a growing list of unanswered questions. Which agent fired? From what distance? What threat, if any, had been identified? And why was a projectile aimed high enough to destroy an eye?

A Bigger Legal Fight

DeSimone said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit on Collins' behalf, claiming the officer acted in reckless disregard of his rights. He also argued that the weapons used in these situations are not vague crowd-control tools but precision munitions that should not be fired indiscriminately.

'There was no imminent threat to those officers and it's upsetting to see the level of violence,' he said. 'It's against policy and against the law to use them for crowd dispersal.'

That claim could become central if the case moves forward, especially given that federal judges have already issued preliminary injunctions restricting how Homeland Security and ICE agents can use tear gas, pepper-ball rounds, and other so-called less-lethal projectiles against protesters. Those restrictions include bans on targeting the head, neck, or torso except where deadly force would be justified.

Authorities Hunted Rallyists Recklessly

Protest policing in Los Angeles has become more militarised, more legally contested and, critics say, more reckless. DeSimone said his firm has represented at least 15 people allegedly injured by federal or local agents during demonstrations since last June.

Among the cases he cited were a guitar player whose finger was shattered and a 79-year-old car wash owner who allegedly suffered a brain bleed after being slammed to the ground.

'These officers have high-powered toys in their hands but they're not toys,' he said, describing projectiles capable of travelling at more than 200 mph. Less-lethal has always sounded suspiciously tidy for weapons that can blind, fracture skulls, and alter a life in a split second.

Collins has not yet spoken publicly in detail because, according to his lawyer, he is still recovering and was not well enough to be interviewed.

At the moment, no individual DHS agent has been publicly identified in the reporting tied to Tucker Collins' case. There is also no public confirmation of a suspension, disciplinary action, arrest, or internal finding against the shooter yet.