The post Security at California Coast Guard base opens fire on U-Haul truck posing 'direct threat' appeared first on My Blog.
]]>Dramatic video shows the box truck with its headlights on reversing toward security personnel stationed around a vehicle outside Coast Guard Base Alameda at around 10 p.m.
Moments later, flashes of gunfire erupted as officers shouted orders from a barricade. The U-Haul driver then hit the gas and accelerated forward.
The Coast Guard said security personnel standing watch on Coast Guard Island had witnessed the U-Haul truck “driving erratically and attempting to back into the base.”
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Security personnel opened fire on a U-Haul truck that ignored commands and tried to back into Coast Guard Base Alameda in California, the U.S. Coast Guard said. (Screenshot/KTVU footage)
Officers at the entrance then “discharged several rounds of live fire” after the driver of the U-Haul ignored “multiple verbal commands” to stop and then proceeded to back in toward the base’s entrance, according to the Coast Guard.
“When the vehicle’s actions posed a direct threat to the safety of Coast Guard and security personnel, law enforcement officers discharged several rounds of live fire,” the agency said in a statement.
Police officers investigate a U-Haul truck outside Coast Guard Island Alameda in Oakland, Calif., Thursday. Coast Guard police opened fire after officials said the truck backed up toward the base’s entrance. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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The Coast Guard confirmed no personnel were injured during the incident.
The U-Haul had been parked outside the base for the better part of the day, CBS reported. The driver then fled after the shooting, the outlet reported.
Photographs from the aftermath of the scene show officials inspecting the abandoned box truck.
Two men arrived at local hospitals for gunshot wounds after the shooting, both with injuries that were not life-threatening, according to the FBI San Francisco Field Office.
One of the injured men was identified as a subject of the investigation, FBI officials said. The subject was released from the hospital and is currently in custody.
The incident followed a protest outside the entrance on Thursday, during which demonstrators attempted to block U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents from entering the base, according to WABC-TV.
Dozens of California Highway Patrol officers wearing riot gear tried to disperse the crowd in order to allow civilian employees to leave. Two people were detained and taken away, the outlet reported.
A law enforcement officer confronts demonstrators protesting immigration operations outside Coast Guard Base Alameda in California on Thursday. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that his planned “surge” of federal troops to San Francisco had been postponed after he spoke with friends of his in the area who said the city’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, was making progress in tackling crime. Trump said on Truth Social that he spoke to Lurie and agreed to call off the move for now.
The base was meant to have been a staging area for the troops, local reports said.
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Coast Guard Island is a 67-acre human-made island formed in 1913 in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda.
It is federally owned, does not allow visits from the public without an escort or specific government identification and has been home to the current base, Base Alameda, since 2012, according to a Coast Guard document from 2016 cited by The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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]]>Cynthia Sullivan, 73, died Thursday, according to a Facebook post shared Friday by a family member, and after succumbing to injuries she suffered in the incident, Boston 25 News reported.
The family’s dog, who alerted Cynthia Sullivan and her husband Patrick, 72, and their 37-year-old son, Tyler, to the fire as they slept aboard their 30-foot powerboat The Third Wave, also died in the blaze.
The Sullivans swam to Naushon Island — a small island roughly four miles from Martha’s Vineyard — after they awoke to heavy fire.
Burned and injured, the trio took shelter inside a barn on the island, where they spent more than 24 hours until their marine radio washed ashore Wednesday morning, enabling Tyler to call for help.
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The U.S. Coast Guard this week rescued a family of three ,who were stranded on a desolate Massachusetts island, by helicopter after they were forced to swim there when their boat caught on fire, the agency said. (USCG)
“Mayday, mayday, mayday, our ship went down in Tarpaulin Cove,” Tyler is heard saying in a radio transmission to the Coast Guard. “Our ship burned while we were sleeping, and we barely escaped.”
A Coast Guard helicopter rescue crew soon arrived and airlifted the family to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.
A family member had reported the Sullivans missing when they didn’t arrive home Tuesday and calls to their cellphones, which went down with the boat, went straight to voicemail.
Multiple agencies searched the area Tuesday night and early Wednesday, and were unable to get accurate pings from the family’s submerged phones until Tyler reached them on the recovered handheld radio, according to the Coast Guard.
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The Coast Guard airlifted the family to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. (USCG)
In a Facebook post, Chris Sullivan memorialized his mother and provided updates on his father and “hero” brother.
“She went in peace. We played her some John Mellencamp as she passed, he was her absolute favorite, she adored him,” Sullivan wrote. “This hurts more than anything I could have ever imagined, I am leaning on my close friends and family and my two young children. We will get through this together.
“My dad is awake and breathing on his own. My brother saved both of them, he was able to get them off the boat under extremely chaotic circumstances, he doesn’t want to be called a hero, but he is. Again, thank you for all the support, it means the world.”
The island is about four miles from Martha’s Vineyard. (John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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“Quick thinking and having quality equipment allowed the family to survive and call for help,” Scott Backholm, a search and rescue mission coordinator from Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England, said in a statement. “Mariners are encouraged to pursue first aid training and ensure their vessels are outfitted with proper safety equipment.”
The Sullivans had left nearby Falmouth, Massachusetts, last Friday and had planned to return Tuesday afternoon.
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]]>The post Coast Guard nabs 50 tons of cocaine bound for posh coastal enclaves as cartel ops ‘rival Amazon’: expert appeared first on My Blog.
]]>The operation is a surge in Coast Guard forces to the Eastern Pacific aimed at stopping cartels and transnational criminal organizations before their drugs and human smuggling operations reach U.S. shores, the Coast Guard said in an Oct. 14 release. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Operation Pacific Viper has averaged about 1,600 pounds of cocaine interdicted daily, resulting in 34 total interdictions since its launch.
“Operation Pacific Viper has proven to be a crucial weapon in the fight against foreign drug traffickers and cartels in Latin America and has sent a clear message that we will disrupt, dismantle and destroy their deadly business exploits wherever we find it,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “In cutting off the flow of these deadly drugs, the Coast Guard is saving countless American lives and delivering on President Trump’s promise to Make America Safe Again and reestablish our maritime dominance.”
In August, Operation Pacific Viper yielded the Coast Guard’s largest-ever drug offload, when the USCGC Hamilton offloaded more than 76,000 pounds of illegal drugs, valued at $473 million, at Port Everglades—including approximately 61,740 pounds of cocaine and 14,400 pounds of marijuana.
A U.S. Coast Guard crew member offloads seized cocaine in San Diego following Operation Pacific Viper in the Eastern Pacific. (U.S. Coast Guard)
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To better understand the scope of the cocaine trade and what such seizures mean for national security, Fox News Digital spoke with Spencer Coursen, a threat management specialist and former U.S. Army Ranger and special deputy marshal. Coursen explained that most cocaine bound for the U.S. originates along Colombia’s Pacific coast, with routes often passing through Ecuador, Peru or Venezuela before moving north via the Caribbean, Mexico or increasingly, the Pacific corridor.
People flock to Windansea Beach along the La Jolla coast on May 10, 2025, in San Diego, California. The Coast Guard has been targeting drug traffickers who have been sending narcotics toward American shores. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
As law enforcement efforts tightened along traditional routes, cartels shifted west, taking advantage of the vastness of the Pacific to evade detection.
“They’re not street gangs,” Coursen said. “They’re global logistics enterprises that rival Amazon, vertically integrated from jungle production to port distribution. They have infrastructure, surveillance, counter-surveillance and billions in cash and weapons to protect their routes.”
The U.S. Coast Guard approaches a suspected smuggling vessel in the Pacific Ocean during Operation Pacific Viper, part of ongoing efforts to disrupt cartel maritime networks. (U.S. Coast Guard)
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Coursen said that while the operation’s success spotlights the Coast Guard’s vigilance, it also gives a glimpse into the sheer scale and sophistication of the narcotics trade.
“Every win is great,” Coursen said. “But every win is also an insight into just how much cocaine is being moved. The most recent estimates show 3,000 to 4,000 tons a year—about 6 million pounds. So even massive interdictions like this are only scratching the surface.”
A U.S. Coast Guard cutter patrols the Eastern Pacific during Operation Pacific Viper, part of the service’s ongoing mission to intercept drug trafficking vessels at sea. (U.S. Coast Guard)
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Coursen warned that despite major seizures like Operation Pacific Viper, cartels’ vast resources allow them to absorb losses and continue operations.
“If nine out of 10 shipments are seized, they’re still making a profit,” he said. “Each one is insured by scale. To them, it’s a tariff—just the cost of doing business.”
He added that the U.S. remains the largest consumer of cocaine globally, accounting for an estimated 40% of worldwide demand.
Despite the success of Operation Pacific Viper, Coursen said interdiction alone will not solve the problem.
“It’s an enormous challenge,” he said. “But every interdiction is a win for national security, and for the men and women who put themselves in harm’s way to make it happen.”
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a U.S. Writer at Fox News Digital.
You can follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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