FBI searching for suspect who allegedly assaulted federal officer during anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is searching for a suspect accused of assaulting a federal officer and damaging government property during the anti-ICE demonstrations in Los Angeles.
The agency is seeking the public's assistance, offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the suspect.
On Saturday at about 3:30 p.m., the suspect allegedly threw rocks at law enforcement vehicles on Alondra Blvd. in Paramount, California, resulting in injury to a federal officer and damage to government vehicles.
The suspect is considered armed and dangerous.
FBI Director Kash Patel warned Saturday night, "if you assault a law enforcement officer, you're going to jail—period."
"It doesn't matter where you came from, how you got here, or what cause you claim to represent," Patel told Fox News Digital. "If local jurisdictions won't stand behind the men and women who wear the badge, the FBI will."
Patel also issued similar warnings on social media.
"Doesn't matter where you came from, how you got here, or what movement speaks to you. If the local police force won't back our men and women on the thin blue line, we @FBI will," Patel wrote Saturday night on X.
On Sunday, the FBI head said Los Angeles is "under siege" amid the demonstrations against deportations and ICE raids targeting migrant workers at local businesses.
"Just so we are clear, this FBI needs no one's permission to enforce the constitution'" Patel wrote on X. "My responsibility is to the American people, not political punch lines. LA is under siege by marauding criminals, and we will restore law and order. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you."
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino also warned protesters who engage in violence that the agency will be pursuing "all available leads for assault on a federal officer, in addition to the many arrests already made."
"Although we'll pursue every case, we don't need to catch every single perp, we just need to catch you," Bongino wrote Sunday on X. "A short time ago, the Director and I notified our teams to use all of our investigative and technological tools to pursue you long after order is firmly established. We will not forget. Even after you try to."
The Trump administration has also taken over the National Guard and deployed troops in Los Angeles to respond to demonstrations. The president has also threatened to send active-duty Marines.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has denounced the federal government's move to deploy the National Guard and has requested that the administration rescind its deployment of troops and return them to his command. The governor said the state will file a lawsuit against the administration over the federal deployment.
"Trump is trying to manufacture a crisis in LA County — deploying troops not for order, but to create chaos," Newsom wrote Sunday on X. "Don't take the bait. Never use violence or harm law enforcement."
"President Trump is escalating the situation by threatening to deploy roughly 500 active-duty Marines to the streets of Los Angeles," he said in another post. "Los Angeles: Remain peaceful. Don't fall into the trap that extremists are hoping for."
Newsom added in another post that Trump "wants chaos and he's instigated violence."
"Those who assault law enforcement or cause property damage will risk arrest," he wrote. "Stay peaceful. Stay focused. Don't give him the excuse he's looking for."
Los Angeles Democrat mayor Karen Bass has also urged the administration to end the federal deployment.
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