Vice President JD Vance's security detail was struck by shrapnel Saturday when a 155-millimeter artillery shell detonated prematurely over Interstate 5 during a live-fire demonstration for the Marine Corps' 250th anniversary, an event the administration had repeatedly assured everyone was perfectly safe and required no highway closures whatsoever.
The shell, fired during what Vance's office had characterized as merely a "training exercise," dropped metal fragments onto a motorcycle in the vice president's motorcade and a California Highway Patrol vehicle, providing what sources described as "a completely unexpected outcome that nobody could have possibly predicted" despite California Governor Gavin Newsom raising public safety concerns days earlier and the CHP citing "extreme life safety risk and distraction to drivers, including sudden unexpected and loud explosions" as reasons to close the freeway.
One CHP officer reported hearing what sounded like pebbles hitting his motorcycle and the area around him, while others observed a two-inch piece of shrapnel strike their patrol vehicle's hood, leaving a small dent—a startling development during an event that Vance and Marine officials had insisted was nothing unsafe and presented no need to disrupt traffic.
The incident occurred after the Marines initially indicated in a press release that Interstate 5 would not need to be closed following their risk assessment, with officials stating all training events would occur on approved ranges and comply with established safety protocols. Vance's press secretary had even accused Newsom of "spreading Fake News" and fearmongering about the safety concerns—concerns that materialized approximately 90 minutes into the celebration when explosive ordnance began raining down on the exact vehicles the state had been worried about.
CHP Border Division Chief Tony Coronado, himself a Marine, noted it is "highly uncommon for any live-fire or explosive training activity to occur over an active freeway", a statement of the obvious that apparently needed to be discovered empirically rather than accepted when California officials suggested it beforehand.
The Marines promptly canceled firing the remaining rounds of the approximately 60 shells scheduled for the event, having successfully demonstrated that state traffic safety experts may have had a valid point. Following the incident, Vance told reporters he had "a great visit" with the Marines and that "they were obviously excited and I was very excited too"—excitement levels presumably correlating with how close one was standing to the premature detonations.
The White House filmed the entire demonstration for a primetime television special scheduled to air November 9th, though it remains unclear whether the shrapnel incident will be included in the final cut or relegated to the blooper reel alongside other unforeseen consequences of decisions that multiple people warned against.
