A man on a dirt bike at Saturday’s protest outside the Department of Homeland Security office in Paramount has become a high-profile symbol of the violence that federal officials have emphasized their agents are facing amid a wave of local immigration raids.
The unidentified man was captured in a viral video throwing rocks at law enforcement vehicles leaving the standoff on Alondra Boulevard, where protesters had been tossing fireworks and barricading the street while dozens of Border Patrol agents fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
Later that day, the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his identification, arrest and conviction.
“We will find him. We will charge him. Justice is coming,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote in a post on X containing various images of the man.
The unidentified man who concealed his face with a neck gaiter, and at times a motorcycle helmet, was one of many demonstrators who rushed to Alondra Boulevard after organizers spread word of a possible immigration raid being set up Saturday morning near a local Home Depot, a day after demonstrators clashed with immigration agents in Downtown Los Angeles.
At Saturday’s protest, a Long Beach Post photographer captured an image of the man riding away from federal agents on a dirt bike shortly after 1:20 p.m. as they shot tear gas into the crowd of protestors.
About two hours later, federal prosecutors say the man assaulted a federal officer and damaged government property by throwing rocks at federal vehicles heading westbound on Alondra Boulevard. Authorities did not reveal the extent of the damage and injuries.
Fox News Correspondent Bill Melugin reported that one of the rocks broke through the windshield of a Border Patrol van and left an agent inside with a cut to his hand.
Tensions have since escalated, with President Donald Trump’s decision to send in 2,000 National Guard troops, which he said were needed to quell violent riots.
Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned this decision, saying the move wasn’t needed. He called it “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions,” and has announced the state will sue to try to reverse the order.
On Monday, hundreds of Marines based in Twentynine Palms were also sent in to respond to the LA area.