{"id":224514,"date":"2026-03-18T00:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/224514\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T00:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:49:08","slug":"military-says-ammunition-malfunction-over-california-highway-was-one-in-a-million-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/224514\/","title":{"rendered":"Military says ammunition malfunction over California highway was ‘one in a million’ error"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 A \u201cone in a million\u201d malfunction during a live fire demonstration<\/a> over Camp Pendleton last October led to a misfire that rained shrapnel on Interstate 5, striking two California Highway Patrol vehicles, a U.S. Marine Corps investigation found.<\/p>\n

An artillery shell exploded over the highway that serves as the main corridor between Los Angeles and San Diego during a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps, attended by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Nobody was hurt, and investigators ruled out any negligence or wrongdoing by Corps members. <\/p>\n

The day before the event, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom called the planned demonstration with live artillery dangerous and unnecessary, and he ordered I-5 to be closed during it. That closure drew condemnation from the White House and other Republicans, and the Marine Corps said the exercises wouldn\u2019t endanger motorists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a 666-page report dated Dec. 19 and first reported on Monday, the Marines concluded that there \u201cis no definitive answer\u201d to why an M795 high explosive round detonated early at an altitude of about 1,480 feet (450 meters) during the Oct. 18 demonstration. Such a premature detonation is \u201cbeyond reasonable expectations and should not have happened, but it did,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is manufactured to a tolerance of one defect in a million,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n

Organizers planned to fire 60 rounds of live artillery in 5 minutes over the highway, using six howitzer weapons, according to the report. But a round in the first volley of shots failed and detonated early, and the rest of the demonstration was canceled, the report said.<\/p>\n

Days after the malfunction, 26 California U.S. House members and the state\u2019s two senators sent a letter<\/a> to Hegseth asking who decided to shoot live artillery over the freeway and how authorities prepared for the safety risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thankful to the Marines for their thorough and precise investigation \u2014 in stark contrast to the dangerous and performative demands by JD Vance and Pete Hegseth to shoot live ammunition over a civilian area for their entertainment,\u201d Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for Newsom\u2019s office, said in an email Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Newsom announced the highway closure in a statement<\/a> after practice rounds were fired a day ahead of the celebration. The governor described the live fire exercise as a show of force meant to intimidate Trump\u2019s opponents, thousands of whom were demonstrating at \u201cNo Kings\u201d protests<\/a> in and around San Diego that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cFiring live rounds over a busy highway isn\u2019t just wrong \u2014 it\u2019s dangerous,\u201d Newsom wrote at the time.<\/p>\n

The Marine report concluded several factors could have contributed to the malfunction, including the howitzer guns being too close together when fired and the \u201cpotential presence of anomalous electromagnetic energy in the vicinity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was different from the thousands of times before this event employing the same shell-fuze combination, weapons system, and highly trained Marines? There is no definitive answer,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

The event at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton featured aircraft, ships, and amphibious assault vehicles to celebrate the anniversary. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a good show regardless of who shows up,\u201d Gen. Eric Smith, commandant of the Marine Corps, said in an Oct. 14 email to Brig. Gen. Garrett \u201cRainman\u201d Hoffman, of the White House Military Office, according to the investigation. <\/p>\n

The first round launched at 1:46 p.m. from M777 howitzers on a beach west of Interstate 5. That artillery round detonated midflight near I-5 southbound, sending shrapnel flying toward a CHP motorcycle and another unoccupied patrol vehicle, according to the CHP report. The vehicles had been part of Vance\u2019s protective service detail and were waiting near a highway ramp after securely getting Vance where he needed to be, the report said.<\/p>\n

An officer described hearing what sounded like \u201cpebbles\u201d falling on his motorcycle, and finding shards nearby. Other shrapnel struck and left a dent on the hood of another patrol vehicle.<\/p>\n

CHP sergeants conducted a safety sweep and didn\u2019t find any other pieces of metal in the highway lanes, the report said. Both sides of the highway were reopened about 30 minutes later.<\/p>\n

Multiple people interviewed for the Marines investigation said they wouldn\u2019t have changed anything about the event. Some noted a drill the day before did not have any problems and routine safety checks were done more than usual.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 A \u201cone in a million\u201d malfunction during a live fire demonstration over Camp Pendleton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,7123,536,102295,175,457,18,6500,7716,9872,17],"class_list":["post-224514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-diana-crofts-pelayo","tag-donald-trump","tag-eric-smith","tag-fires","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-general-news","tag-jd-vance","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-u-s-marine-corps","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}