OAKLAND, Calif. – Members of the U.S. Coast Guard fired rubber bullets Friday at a car that was moving toward a barricade separating them from protesters outside Coast Guard Island, officials said.
“Non-lethal force was used to deter a vehicle approaching the Base Alameda gate. The vehicle departed the area without further incident,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
Witnesses told KTVU that the car passed through an intersection where protesters had gathered, then drove toward a barricade outside Coast Guard Island and began circling. That’s when Coast Guard members opened fire with rubber bullets, they said.
Follows earlier U-Haul shooting outside base
The incident came one day after a separate shooting outside the base, when Coast Guard members fired at the driver of a U-Haul truck who reversed toward them, officials said.
No Coast Guard personnel were injured. Officers issued “multiple verbal commands” to stop, but the driver failed to comply and “suddenly accelerating backward at a high rate of speed directly toward them,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
“When the vehicle’s actions posed a direct threat to the safety of Coast Guard and security personnel, law enforcement officers discharged several rounds of defensive live fire,” they added.
“Crass Aunt” (left) and “Bridget Star” (right), both of Oakland, play a round of badminton at the entrance to Coast Guard Island as demonstrators gathered for another day of protest against the presence of federal immigration officers in Oakland, Calif., Friday, October 24, 2025. (Jaden Schaul / KTVU)
Bystander wounded, driver in FBI custody
Initial reports said the U-Haul driver was shot in the stomach, but KTVU later learned the driver was instead wounded by shrapnel. A bystander was the person shot in the stomach and remains hospitalized but is expected to survive, officials said.
After being released from the hospital, the U-Haul driver was taken into custody by the FBI.
Video from the scene appeared to show a U-Haul truck attempting to back into the base.
Protests preceded both incidents
The incidents on Thursday and Friday occurred at the same location where protesters assembled to condemn a now-canceled federal immigration operation in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Source: Information for this story was sourced from the U.S. Coast Guard and interviews with witnesses.