CHP's Motorcycles Got Hit By Shrapnel After a Marine Shell Detonated Over the Highway

For some reason, a shell fired by the Marines over the 5 freeway in California prematurely detonated over the highway, with shrapnel hitting CHP officers guarding Vice President JD Vance.

Photo by: California Highway Patrol

By: Jonathon Klein

Oct 22, 2025 at 8:36am ET

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A few years back, I lived in California. Specifically, I lived in Los Angeles. But work routinely brought me down to San Diego. For those uninitiated, San Diego holds Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base. And from time to time, on my way down, I'd see carriers, Black Hawks, Ospreys, and other ships and associated military personnel doing training along the coast.

It was a neat thing to watch, especially for someone who grew up loving Top Gun.

Never once, however, did I see the Marines firing live ammunition over the 5 Freeway, which is one of the busiest corridors in the country. Never once did I see them endangering folks' lives for some idiotic military celebration. Never once did they pull some stupid stunt because some congressional representative or president or vice president wanted a damn show. Well, that all changed, and it nearly went completely sideways to the point of endangering people's lives.

Chief among them, Vice President JD Vance, who found himself ducking for cover as a shell prematurely exploded over his freakin' motorcade, sending shrapnel toward the CHP motorcycle cops tasked at protecting him.

According to the New York Times, "A 155-millimeter shell fired during a live-fire demonstration for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton on Saturday prematurely detonated, dropping fragments of the shell on a California Highway Patrol vehicle and motorcycle that were part of Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail, according to a patrol report. No officers were hurt in the mishap, which dropped shrapnel onto the vehicles parked on a ramp to a major freeway that had been ordered closed by Gov. Gavin Newsom."

CHP then closed a 17-mile stretch of the highway to assess for damage and clean up the debris. Having lived in the area for a long time, California's notoriously bad traffic had to be apocalyptic after this. I, honestly, likely would've stormed Pendelton myself just to slap whoever decided it was a good idea to send a shell over the damn freeway. And I'm sure I wouldn't have been alone.

The shell was fired by an M777 Howitzer, which is a towable artillery canon, and was part of a demonstration of "larger exercise[s] marking the Corps’ 250th anniversary, attended by Mr. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth." The Times reports that Governor Newsom had originally objected to the plan to fire over the freeway, because, no freaking shit. It puts civilians in the line of fire.

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Literally.

Speaking to the outlet, Lt. Col. Lindsay Pirek, a spokeswoman for the First Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, stated, "We are committed to determining the incident’s root cause and applying findings to future missions." The demonstration was quickly halted after the premature detonation, and again, thankfully, no one was injured. But again, I witnessed countless drills and exercises while living in California, and none were as reckless as this. Hopefully, this doesn't happen again, and I'm glad the CHP officers riding those bikes weren't hurt.