Premature explosion of artillery round disrupts marine event in California

A live artillery shell exploded prematurely during a live-fire amphibious demonstration at Camp Pendleton in celebration of the military branch's 250th anniversary and shrapnel from it pelted down on a California Highway Patrol vehicle and a motorcycle that was part of JD Vance’ detail.

As reported by The New York Times, fragments that fell from the 155mm shell landed on vehicles parked on a ramp on Interstate 5 - a main north-south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States-which the governor had ordered closed after learning that military officials had no plans to shut down the freeway.

Vice President JD Vance, a Republican and former enlisted marine who served in Iraq, visited the Camp Pendleton base in north San Diego along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to specifically celebrate the Marine Corp’s 250th anniversary and watch armed forces put on a show of amphibious vehicles and marines demonstrating a beach assault.

Following the situation, an officer described hearing something that sounded like pebbles hitting his motorcycle and the area surrounding him.

Meanwhile, others saw a 2in (5cm) piece of shrapnel that struck the bonnet of a patrol vehicle and left a small dent.

Further reports demonstrated that shrapnel was also found on the road near the motorcycle.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) closed a 17-mile (27km) stretch of the freeway before and during the exercise on Saturday in a surprise announcement early that morning.

The eleventh-hour closure caused severe traffic delays on Saturday morning and early afternoon.

The Democratic governor released a statement, “Firing live rounds over a busy highway isn't just wrong; it's dangerous. Using our military to intimidate people you disagree with isn’t strength-it’s disrespectful and it’s beneath the office he holds.”

US marine officials further confirmed that there was nothing unsafe about the exercise at Camp Pendleton, where firing artillery is a routine occurrence, and that it was unnecessary to hold up traffic on I5 which is the main highway along the Pacific coast between San Diego and Los Angeles.

According to the governor’s office, the freeway carries 80,000 travelers and $94million in freight through the corridor daily, and the passenger rail services running parallel to the I5 were also cancelled for the afternoon.

Nonetheless, the incident sparked a political debate over public safety and resulted in an abrupt cessation to the dangerous activity and the commencement of a military investigation.