Vice President J.D. Vance celebrates 250th anniversary of Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton
Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of the Army Pete Hegseth attended an event commemorating the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary at Camp Pendleton.
Scripps News – KGTV San Diego
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Marine Corps is investigating an incident on a California highway during a ceremony attended by Vice President J.D. Vance when live ammunition was fired and one shell exploded in the air, showering shrapnel on a police vehicle parked nearby, officials said Monday.
The accident occurred Oct. 18 during a demonstration of the military’s M777 howitzer at a Camp Pendleton event celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps.No one was injured in the incident.
But the incident along Interstate 5, about 40 miles north of San Diego, drew harsh criticism from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who accused the Trump administration of what he called a “reckless” and “grossly unreasonable show of force.”
Tony Coronado, chief of the California Highway Patrol’s border division and a Marine Corps veteran, called the incident an “unusual and alarming situation,” adding, “It is very unusual for live fire and explosive training activities to take place on an active highway.”
The Highway Patrol temporarily closed a 27-mile section of Interstate 5 as a precaution in advance of Exercise M777.
But a CHP cruiser and motorcycle assigned to provide security upon Vance’s arrival and parked on a highway on-ramp near the base during the event were showered with metal fragments when the first of 60 shells the Marines were scheduled to fire over the highway exploded prematurely in flight, according to a California Highway Patrol incident report shared with Reuters.
A 2-inch-wide chunk of debris dented the hood of the patrol car, and smaller debris rained down on and around the motorcycle, but no significant damage was detected, the report said.
“After the round failed, the exercise ended and no additional rounds were fired,” the report said.
Camp Pendleton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The relatively brief closure of Interstate 5, which connects the Los Angeles area and San Diego County, caused traffic congestion across the region, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The White House said the Marine Corps “reiterated that there were no public safety concerns with today’s exercise.”
A U.S. official familiar with the situation said the investigation was ongoing and Saturday’s canceled howitzer demonstration followed the previous day’s “test” firing of 30 155-millimeter shells, but it was not clear whether the Oct. 17 shells were fired on the highway. The Los Angeles Times reported that some people did.
The official said safety measures were in place on October 18 and a “ceasefire was called” when artillery monitors noticed one shell not hitting where it was supposed to.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Jamie Freed)
