Military Fires Artillery Over California Freeway

The Marines fired 155-millimeter artillery shells over a major freeway in Southern California on Saturday as part of a demonstration at Camp Pendleton to celebrate the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary.

The plans to fire over the freeway triggered outrage by Gov. Gavin Newsom late Friday night after his office had been informed days earlier that the celebration would not involve firing munitions across Interstate 5, a heavily traveled corridor between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Early Saturday, Mr. Newsom said the state would shut a 17-mile section of the freeway from noon to 3 p.m. Pacific time because of potential hazards posed by the military’s plans.

“This is a profoundly absurd show of force that could put Californians directly in harm’s way,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement to The New York Times.

He criticized President Trump and said the lack of coordination among state, federal and local officials was creating a dangerous situation. The artillery demonstration, which was attended by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and military officials, took place on the same day that anti-Trump activists held “No Kings” protests across the country, including in Southern California.

“Using our military to intimidate people you disagree with isn’t strength — it’s reckless, it’s disrespectful, and it’s beneath the office the president holds,” Mr. Newsom said.

But a spokesman for Mr. Vance said the Marine Corps had assessed that the exercise posed no threat.

“Gavin Newsom wants people to think this exercise is dangerous,” William Martin, Mr. Vance’s communications director, said in a statement. “The Marine Corps says it’s an established and safe practice. Newsom wants people to think this is an absurd show of force. The Marine Corps says it’s part of routine training at Camp Pendleton.”

“If Gavin Newsom wants to oppose the training exercises that ensure our Armed Forces are the deadliest and most lethal fighting force in the world, then he can go right ahead,” Mr. Martin added.

Mr. Newsom said he’s all for celebrating military heroes but wanted more communication about the plans. State officials said they had received few details from the federal government about the activities involved in Saturday’s celebration, other than a request to post a message alerting motorists of live fire on the electronic signs that line the freeway.

The freeway closure became the latest flashpoint between Mr. Newsom and the Trump administration, which have been jousting intensely since the president took control of some 4,000 California National Guard troops in June, over the governor’s objections, to respond to protests over immigration enforcement.

The state’s decision to close the freeway defied the guidance of federal officials, who had said the freeway would remain open during the demonstration. But Mr. Newsom said state highway officials determined the live fire exercise created an extreme safety risk and a distraction to drivers because of unexpected and loud explosions.

The section that closed was between Harbor Drive and Basilone Road, and traffic delays were expected throughout the region. About 80,000 people a day travel on the stretch of interstate between San Diego and Orange Counties, according to the governor’s office.

The vice president, himself a former enlisted Marine who served in Iraq, and other dignitaries observed what the Marine Corps called an “amphibious capabilities demonstration” at the base, which involved active duty Marines coming ashore from the sea at an oceanfront training area.

That strip of shoreline, called Red Beach, is along Interstate 5 just south of the decommissioned San Onofre nuclear power plant and is closed to the public. It was visited frequently by former President Richard M. Nixon in the 1970s because of the security and seclusion it offered.

To prepare for Saturday’s event, artillery rounds from M777 howitzers were fired from Red Beach east over Interstate 5 on Friday evening as a test run, said Capt. Gregory Dreibelbis, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based at Camp Pendleton. Vehicular traffic along the interstate was not closed off while the artillery guns were firing, he said in a statement.

“M777 artillery pieces have historically been fired during routine training from land-based artillery firing points west of I-5 into impact areas east of the interstate within existing safety protocols and without the need to close the route,” Capt. Dreibelbis said. He called the test firings an “established and safe practice” as a rehearsal for Saturday’s event.

The shells fired by M777 howitzers, which are about six inches in diameter and two feet long, typically weigh about 90 pounds and can be fired at targets more than 15 miles away.

Marine officials did not disclose whether the shells fired Friday were high-explosive rounds, or inert practice projectiles often used for military training.

The military had planned to fire multiple rounds on Saturday but made a decision to fire only one round, according to Marines on site for the exercise.