Protester says he was permanently blinded after getting shot by Homeland Security officer in Southern California

A protester was permanently blinded in their left eye after a Department of Homeland Security officer fired a nonlethal round from close range during a confrontation on Friday night, Jan. 9, outside the federal building in Santa Ana, a social justice group said on Tuesday, Jan. 13.

Local members of Dare to Struggle, which bills itself as an organization that fights injustice, gathered outside the Santa Ana City Jail to speak out against actions by the DHS officers. One of them was arrested at Friday’s confrontation, and another said they are a friend of the injured protester who spoke to him at the hospital.

One group member read a statement from the injured protester, who underwent surgery after, other protesters said, he was struck by a less-than-lethal round fired by a Homeland Security officer standing a few feet away.

In response to a request for comment regarding the confrontation and allegations raised by protesters, a DHS official wrote in an email that “a mob of about 60 rioters threw rocks, bottles and fireworks at law enforcement officers outside the federal building in Santa Ana” as part of “a highly coordinated campaign of violence where rioters wielded shields.”

On Friday, hundreds had gathered in downtown Santa Ana to peacefully protest the fatal shooting by a federal officer of Renee Good in Minnesota and the ongoing mass deportations. By nighttime, the crowd had begun to shrink and disperse, leaving a much smaller group of activists in front of the federal building.

Video that has circulated on social media shows some in the remaining crowd appearing to throw traffic cones toward Homeland Security officers standing outside the building.

On video, officers grab one protester, as at least two others appear to run toward them in a possible attempt to intervene.

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An officer holds one of those two protesters back, while the second protester suddenly falls to the ground and doubles over. An officer grabs the injured protester and pulls them backward toward the building, at one point falling over one of the discarded cones.

The video appears to show the officer dragging the protester by the hood of their jacket. Blood can be seen streaming down the protester’s face as he appears to grab for his neck and seems to struggle to breathe.

In the statement read to the media by his friend, the protester described being among a small group chanting through megaphones on the front line of the demonstration when DHS officers “with their weapons drawn” began “creeping toward the unarmed protesters.” Officers grabbed him and a friend, the protester said in the statement.

“The next thing I saw was a DHS agent only a few feet away from me, his weaponry pointed straight at me,” the statement read. “I heard a bang and suddenly I was on my knees. It hadn’t dawned on my what happened. Everything was a blur. Sounds became muffles. The only thing I could focus on was the ringing and pressure around my skull. I couldn’t breathe. …

“I thought this was the end,” the statement added. “I thought I was going to bleed out on the floor of the federal building with a DHS agent holding my head down to the ground like a trophy.”

Doctors told the protester that he will never see out of his left eye again, according to the statement. A piece of plastic the size of a nickel was pulled from his eye, he wrote, and plastic, metal and glass shards were found in his skull. Metal shards were also found in his stomach from swallowing so much blood, according to the statement.

“The doctors performed extensive surgery once and have said they could not get all the shrapnel out of my skull and I will have to live with metal pieces there for the rest of my life,” he wrote.

“At this point, I’m just glad I’m alive to tell my story,” he added. “I’m fully convinced the DHS agent who shot and dragged me away had every intent to kill me.”

The DHS official wrote that two officers were injured and “two violent rioters” were arrested and charged with assault on a federal officer and disorderly conduct.

“Make no mistake, rioting and assaulting law enforcement is not only dangerous but a crime,” the DHS official wrote. “(DHS) Secretary (Kristi) Noem has been clear: Any rioter who obstructs or assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

During the Tuesday morning news conference, Skye Jones said they had been part of the protest and had been “brutalized” by the officers and held at the Santa Ana City Jail over the weekend.

“It shows how they respond to an outcry for justice and it shows their panic,” Jones said.

Jones declined to comment further on the events leading up to the confrontation with the officers or on what criminal charges they are facing.

It was unclear if the injured protester was the second person that DHS officials referenced being arrested, along with Jones.