A typical Monday afternoon in Compton was, to my surprise, a monotonous green military style vehicle was crushed for a rolled up neighbour. The exhaustion, the helmet and the person standing in the open hatch wearing what they said looked like body armor. A resident who spoke with the Times said it was an immigration enforcement team using armored vehicles for attacks in which families, including children, were detained.
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A video of the June 9 incident reviewed by the Times shows a person in the vehicle having a gun that appears to be a paintball hopper protruding from above, a configuration used to shoot non-lethal ammunition, including pepper spray balls, during protests. At one point, the person points the barrel of the gun down from its vertical position. It is unknown if the shot will be fired.
This video provides a partial view of the vehicle from across the street. Only the top, its hatch, the armed person can be seen, along with another device similar to the tool for wall violations.
The neighbor who spoke to the Times on Sunday — some asked to remain anonymous in fear of retaliation — said the vehicle had dropped the main gate of his home. The officers then robbed five or seven people inside, of which at least two were children, the neighbor said.
It was unclear which agency carried the lawsuit on Sunday, and witness claims could not be confirmed immediately.
Compton is being policed by the LA County Sheriff’s Office and said Sunday evening “at this time, we don’t know of the incident.” The National Guard introduced all inquiries to the US Northern Command, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday evening. The White House, the US Department of Homeland Security, or the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, also did not respond to requests for comment.
The location of the attack was a one-storey home next to the railway tracks, just a few blocks from the runway at Compton Woodley Airport. On Sunday, colorful Easter decorations were still featured next to bright yellow flowers and faded “Security One” home security placards. A red and green Mexican-themed soccer ball was sitting on a well-maintained lawn.
The driveway gate of the waist high chain link fence that separates the front yard from the sidewalk was bent and broken, tied to a metal fence pole with a white rope. The white van windshield and driver’s side windows in the driveway were destroyed.
When Ramirez, 25, returned home from work on June 9th, the family at the time who were at home told him what had happened to him, and the neighbors said they had shown him a video of the incident.
“They took our neighbors,” he said. “They came and tore the fence with one of the armored vehicles.”
Ramirez said five people of Mexican descent (two parents, third adults and two teenagers) were taken into custody. None of them have returned.
Frank Cervantes, 35, said he was at Chuck E. Cheese across the street when the incident happened, but saw it in a video filmed with his ring camera. Now, “everyone is stressed out,” he said.
“It was like a war vehicle – swat style,” Cervantes said. “That’s scary, man. It’s almost authoritarian.”
Cervantes lamented what he thought was a waste of resources.
“They need to be near the border that is fighting fentanyl. What are they doing here?” he said of the attack.
Ramirez said the incident shocked him and his loved ones.
“It’s a bit scary considering we have families who are immigrants,” he said. “The length they go – they took the kids… that’s trauma they’ll go through.”
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