Videographer shot with pepper round by federal agents while covering Portland ICE protest
Jun 13, 2025 · Portland, OR
Mason Lake, an independent journalist and videographer based in Portland, was shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with a pepper round that struck his right arm while he covered a protest outside an immigration detention center on June 13, 2025. Lake was filming officers deploying crowd-control munitions during a protest over the arrest of Moisés Sotelo, a Newberg business owner detained by federal immigration agents. Despite wearing clear press markings on his coat, helmet, and belt, ICE agents shot at him multiple times. Lake believes the ICE Special Response Team was responsible based on uniform patches visible in his footage. Since 2020, Lake has been assaulted at least 14 times while covering Portland protests. In November 2025, Lake and fellow journalist Hugo Rios filed a federal class-action lawsuit against President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security, and its head Kristi Noem, alleging indiscriminate, retaliatory violence by DHS agents. In March 2026, Lake and Rios won a preliminary injunction protecting journalists against retaliatory violence by DHS agents in Portland.
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