New questions are rising about why there have been no public warnings earlier than the U.S. Marines fired over Interstate 5 and a serious regional commuter rail line as a check run a day earlier than the 250th birthday celebration for the Corps at Camp Pendleton.
Friday’s train occurred throughout regular freeway and practice operations amid the night commute — and with none of the precautions taken Saturday, when officers quickly closed the 5 and suspended rail service. On that day, shrapnel landed on a California Freeway Patrol cruiser and bike after an artillery shell exploded in midair prematurely, prompting an investigation from the Marines.
Lt. Col. Lindsay Pirek, a spokesperson for the First Marine Expeditionary Drive, instructed The Occasions Monday the Marines notified the state about plans for Friday’s launching of shells earlier than it fired a complete of 30 rounds from its M777 howitzers between 5 and 5:30 p.m.
Nonetheless, state sources instructed the Los Angeles Occasions that the messages the Marine Corps despatched on Friday truly didn’t specify that artillery was being fired in a check run on Friday. They stated they didn’t interpret the request as indication that stay rounds could be fired over the freeway within the coming hours.
As a consequence, 1000’s of rush hour commuters and coastal rail passengers have been unaware of the danger as a number of M777 howitzers fired a complete of 30 shells over the freeway.
“We didn’t obtain a notification that weapons could be fired over the freeway throughout Friday’s rehearsal,” a spokesperson for the California State Transportation Company instructed The Occasions.
The Occasions has requested the Marines Corps for remark and has but to obtain a solution.
Caltrans captured video of rounds being fired from the M777 howitzers Friday. “That’s the fourth shot over the freeway,” a person’s voice could possibly be heard in a Caltrans video shared with reporters.
“We have been floored,” stated a state official who’s aware of the matter, however not licensed to talk publicly. The firing “was a whole shock to everybody concerned.”
The shells, which weigh roughly 100 kilos every, have been initially set to be fired at 1:45 p.m. Friday, Pirek stated. However the Marines delayed the shelling to make sure that state officers had time to put up warning messages on digital indicators alongside the freeway, Pirek stated.
Officers from plenty of California companies have been shocked to be taught that stay artillery shells have been fired throughout the I-5 Friday night, based on the state official.
No less than one passenger practice would have been within the basic space across the time shells have been lofted over the practice tracks, based on the schedule. The northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Prepare No. 785 was scheduled to have left Oceanside at 4:57 p.m. and arrive at San Clemente Pier at 5:20 p.m.
Amtrak trains on that part of route operated a standard schedule Friday.
Sooner or later earlier — on Oct. 16 — army officers reportedly instructed the California Freeway Patrol that ammunition for Saturday’s occasion wouldn’t be fired over the freeway, based on California transportation officers.
On Friday, the state acquired a communication from occasion organizers, asking that the California Division of Transportation use digital indicators to warn I-5 motorists that overhead hearth was in progress, the state supply stated.
Organizers requested that the warning go up instantly on Friday and keep up via Saturday afternoon, the state supply stated.
However with no notification specifying that weapons could be fired on Friday, the digital indicators over Interstate 5 warning about stay weapons hearth have been by no means lit till Saturday morning, a spokesperson for the California State Transportation Company stated.
A noise advisory printed by Camp Pendleton on Oct. 16 didn’t element any “noise producing occasions” scheduled for Friday on the base. The doc says excessive explosive munitions would subsequent be fired on Saturday into the bottom’s inside — particularly, an unlimited space within the northern central a part of the bottom named the “Whiskey Impression Space” and the “Zulu Impression Space.”
Visitors stands nonetheless on Interstate 5 freeway because it runs via Camp Pendleton throughout a brief freeway closure on Saturday after army officers confirmed that live-fire artillery rounds might be shot over the freeway, prompting state officers to close down the freeway periodically in an unprecedented transfer, Oct. 18, 2025.
(Jonathan Alcorn/For The Occasions)
The governor’s workplace stated final week that they have been initially instructed that federal authorities have been contemplating closing I-5 for Saturday’s occasion. When no order materialized by Oct. 15, state officers started weighing whether or not to take action themselves.
Then, on the night of Oct. 15, the Marine Corps posted an announcement on X saying that no public highways or transportation routes could be closed, whereas saying it meant to carry a “live-fire” demonstration on Saturday at Camp Pendleton. State officers stated on Oct. 16, the Marines confirmed their train could be carried out on its coaching ranges, as is completed routinely, and never over the freeway.
Amid these assurances, by the morning of Oct. 16, state officers had backed off the concept of closing Interstate 5.
Nonetheless, federal authorities had reached out individually to request that practice service via Camp Pendleton be halted for Saturday’s celebration.
However the cause for the cancellation of practice service on Saturday could have had extra to do with safety procedures involving Vice President JD Vance. He arrived at Saturday’s army demonstration to present a speech and had a seaside view of the M777 howitzers as they fired the primary volley of shells.
On Oct. 15, it was the U.S. Secret Service who reached out to the North County Transit District, which owns the railroad via Camp Pendleton, to request that the tracks be closed via the bottom on Saturday. The Secret Service requested the rail closure as a part of its “superior planning,” the company instructed The Occasions this week.
“NCTD accommodated the request and maintained constant coordination between our rail company companions, in addition to state and federal officers, within the days main as much as the occasion,” stated NCTD Chief of Employees Mary Dover.
Because of this, the Pacific Surfliner practice service was paused via Camp Pendleton on Saturday afternoon. Metrolink canceled all practice service within the space on Saturday.
It wasn’t till late Friday that Caltrans acquired phrase from army officers {that a} live-fire demonstration was deliberate over I-5 Saturday, based on state transportation officers.
“Firing stay rounds over a busy freeway isn’t simply unsuitable — it’s harmful,” Gov. Gavin Newsom stated in an announcement issued round 7 a.m. Saturday, asserting that there could be a closure of I-5 within the space close to the munitions hearth. Caltrans introduced {that a} 17-mile stretch of I-5 could be closed in the course of the demonstration “as a consequence of security issues.”
The White Home’s Fast Response Workforce on social media criticized Newsom for closing the freeway. “Not solely did no person on the White Home or the Marines ask him to take action, the Marines repeatedly stated there are not any public security issues with at the moment’s workouts,” stated the put up, which went up simply after 11 a.m.
On Saturday, a California Freeway Patrol cruiser and bike parked on an I-5 onramp was hit by shrapnel after an artillery spherical prematurely exploded in midair, raining particles down, as a substitute of reaching the influence zone. Although nobody was damage, the incident has raised questions on how officers meant to guard motorists and transit riders.
The artillery spherical that exploded over the freeway got here from the primary volley fired from M777 howitzers at Crimson Seaside. Though one spherical detonated midflight, the 4 remaining rounds hit their meant goal on the base, Pirek stated. Upon studying of the midair explosion, the Marines canceled the firing of 55 extra rounds.
The Marine Corps is investigating the incident. Officers say they believe the detonating fuse on one of many rounds malfunctioned and brought on the explosion.
The M777 howitzer is an oblique hearth weapon, which means that it’s made to loft explosive shells in an arced trajectory over pleasant forces and into enemy territory. Pirek stated that, till now, the weapons system used had “just about a 0% malfunction fee.”
The Marine Corps has stated that shells from M777 artillery items have been fired over I-5 beforehand with out the necessity to shut the route.
The Corps hasn’t but answered questions on when, or how usually, that has occurred. However specialists, together with a retired senior Marine officer who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly on the matter, instructed The Occasions that it’s extremely uncommon for them to fireside stay rounds over the freeway.
The California State Transportation Company in an announcement to The Occasions saying it’s “unaware of any earlier live-fire demonstrations that included firing weapons over a state freeway.”
“Security is our prime precedence — this was an unprecedented and probably harmful occasion for the touring public,” the company stated in an announcement.
Rep. Mike Levin, a Democrat who represents northern San Diego County and southern Orange County, and Sens. Alex Padilla and Alex Schiff, despatched a letter to Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth asking that they reply questions on how Saturday’s occasion was deliberate.
The letter was co-signed by greater than two dozen different members of Congress.
“Whereas we’re relieved nobody was injured, we’re deeply involved by the choice making that led to this incident,” the letter stated. “Who made the ultimate determination that the stay hearth demonstration was thought of to be protected? When was this determination made?”
