A disturbing video captured a protester apparently opening fire on federal agents in a chaotic clash during a deportation raid at a pot farm in southern California on Thursday.
The wild scene was caught by ABC7 cameras, showing a masked man dressed in all black pointing a weapon and allegedly firing it at immigration agents who descended on Glass House Farms in the city of Camarillo.
The man can be seen retreating in the road as he appears to let off a few shots among a crowd of other protesters scampering away from advancing agents.
No law enforcement officials were reported shot or seriously injured during the confrontation.
The madness unfolded in the morning as protesters with shirts wrapped around their head and camouflaged federal immigration officials decked out in riot gear faced off amid clouds of smoke outside one of the biggest cannabis farms in Southern California, a region that has recently seen increased pressure from the Trump administration, according to reports.
The clash lasted four hours as US Customs and Border Protection set up a blockade with military-style vehicles in the pastoral region.
A federal government helicopter also soared over the fields and greenhouses.
Dozens of irate demonstrators gathered on the blockaded road and squared off with the uniformed officers wearing gas masks.
They shouted and screeched at the officers as they darted around parked cars and some that slowly maneuvered around the chaos. That is until agents released canisters containing an unknown substance.
Protesters made haste when they became shrouded by the billowing clouds of white and green smoke.
Paramedics from the Ventura County Fire Department were dispatched around 12:15 p.m. to provide emergency medical aid, said spokesman Andrew Dowd.
EMS took three people to nearby hospitals for treatment, he added. Dowd said he had no information on the types of injuries or medical emergencies sustained.
Glass House Farms said on social media that it “fully complied with agent search warrants” visited by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials Thursday.
The farm is now under investigation for child labor violations, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott announced late Thursday night after 10 juveniles — “all illegal aliens” — were found at the facility, including eight without an adult, he said.
Glass House Farms has a permit to grow cannabis in Ventura County, and as of last year used half of the space for cannabis while half was dedicated to tomatoes and cucumbers, the Ventura County Star reported.
A worker in the tomato fields in the area called his daughter, Judith Ramos, during the mayhem.
“He said immigration was outside his job, and if anything happened to take care of everything,” Ramos said, her voice cracking.
Ramos, 22-year-old certified nurse assistant said she has two young siblings, went to the farm and saw a busload of people being removed.
She said she was protesting alongside others when agents fired the canisters.
With Post wires
