LA riots latest: Police shortage and looting spark fury as Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom claim calm in chaos

The Los Angeles Police Department has faced a massive staffing shortage in recent years, leaving fewer officers to combat the violence that erupted over the weekend.

Los Angeles has fewer police per capita than many major cities, with only 246 officers per 100,000 residents, according to Governing.com.

Recent projections indicate that the LAPD could be facing its lowest staffing level since 1995 this fiscal year, reported the Los Angeles Times.

LAPD leaders expect to lose more than 150 officers, resulting in a force of approximately 8,620. Officials have argued that 10,000 officers are needed to ensure public safety.

Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to assist the police in quelling the unrest.

Roughly 300 National Guard members arrived in the city over the weekend, and Trump said he had authorized 2,000 members to deploy if needed.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is under fire after posting a ‘war room’ style photo of officials meeting while Los Angeles was being torched by rioters.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of LA for a third day on Sunday to protest President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Newsom, however, was meeting with state emergency officials, LA police and the LA County Sheriff’s Department as the chaos unfolded.

Sharing a photo of the meeting on social media, he said authorities had gathered to ‘respond to protests provoked by chaos from Washington.’

‘I don’t want people to fall into the chaos that I believe is being created by the administration completely unnecessarily,’ she told a press conference Sunday.

The city of Glendale canceled its contract with federal immigration authorities to house detainees within its local jail as protests erupted in LA.

Glendale officials announced in a statement on Sunday that the city would formally terminate its agreement with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

”[T]he City recognizes that public perception of the ICE contract—no matter how limited or carefully managed, no matter the good—has become divisive,” the statement said.

ICE’s agreement with Glendale had been in place since 2007.

Waymo, which offers rides from Santa Monica Pier to Downtown, decided to suspend service after its vehicles were vandalized in the LA riots.

‘We will not be serving any rides in the protest area until it is deemed safe,’ a Waymo spokesperson told NBC News.

At least five self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire in Los Angeles over the weekend.

Dramatic images showed large plumes of black smoke rising and intermittent explosions as the electric vehicles burned.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell told a media briefing on Sunday evening that the violence he had seen by some was ‘disgusting’ and the protests were getting out of control.

‘This violence that I’ve seen is disgusting. It’s escalated now since the beginning of this incident. What we saw the first night was bad,’ he said.

‘What we’ve seen subsequent to that is getting increasingly worse and more violent. Tonight, we had individuals out there shooting commercial-grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill you.’

At least 56 people were arrested over the weekend as rioters set cars on fire and looted businesses.

California Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to sue the Trump Administration for calling on the state’s National Guard as the streets of Los Angeles descended into chaos.

Newsom called Trump’s deployment ‘illegal’ and announced he plans to file a lawsuit against the administration.

‘There’s a protocol, there’s a process. He didn’t care about that,’ the governor said on MSNBC.

Newsom then posted on X, ‘Donald Trump is putting fuel on this fire. Commandeering a state’s National Guard without consulting the Governor of that state is illegal and immoral. California will be taking him to court.’

Roughly 300 National Guard members arrived in the city over the weekend, and Trump said he had authorized 2,000 members to deploy if needed.

Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is ‘a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.’

Chaos erupted on Friday after federal immigration officials clashed with protesters as they raided several downtown locations.

Protests continued on Saturday with Donald Trump exploding on ‘incompetent’ LA leaders who he said are responsible for the pro-migrant riots.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that ‘active duty Marines’ were on ‘high alert’ as roving mobs of violent thugs created havoc on the streets of Los Angeles.

Tensions escalated on Sunday as Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to descend on the city.

Protesters blocked off a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has criticized the US government over the immigration raids and National Guard deployment.

‘We do not agree with this way of addressing the immigration issue,’ Sheinbaum, who has sought to cultivate a positive relationship with President Donald Trump, said at a public event Sunday.

‘The phenomenon will not be addressed with raids or violence. It will be by sitting down and working on comprehensive reform.’

She also said that ‘Mexicans living in the United States are good men and women, honest people who went to the United States to seek a better life for themselves and to support their families.’

‘They are not criminals! They are good men and women!’ she added.

Horrifying scenes showed Waymo cars erupting into flames and emitting toxic gases as rioters chained themselves to furniture and created blockades to grind Downtown Los Angeles to a complete halt on Sunday night as violence stretched into a third day.

Extraordinary vision captured the moment these rioters set fire to the Waymos and celebrated the carnage by dancing on the roof of cars and waving Mexican flags high above the flames.

‘Burn, burn, burn,’ the protesters cheered.

At least five Waymo self-driving cars were set alight and vandalized, prompting an indefinite shutdown of Los Angeles St north of Arcadia, and south of Alameda amid safety concerns about the lithium batteries.

San Francisco Police also declared gatherings ‘unlawful gatherings’ in the city’s financial district, reporting that rioters there injured two officers.

Around 60 people – including some under the age of 18 – were arrested Sunday in San Francisco, KGO reports.

US correspondent for Nine Lauren Tomasi was reporting on the ‘rapidly deteriorating’ riots in the city on Sunday evening, local time, when she was hit.

As she told viewers the police were ‘moving them (protesters) on through the heart of LA’ several loud bangs were heard in the distance.

Just moments later a policeman was seen turning his gun towards Tomasi.

A cloud of smoke appeared next to the journalist and she doubled over in pain.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who has announced his candidacy for California governor in 2026, has accused Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom of gaslighting.

He said that Democratic leaders the likes of Harris, Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass ‘own this.’

Harris then went on to express her support for the protests – which she called ‘overwhelmingly peaceful.’

California Governor Newsom said he requested the Trump administration to withdraw its order to deploy 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles County, calling it unlawful.

Newsom said in a Sunday interview with MSNBC he planned to sue the administration over the deployment, adding that President Donald Trump ‘has created the conditions’ around the protests.

He accused the president of trying to manufacture a crisis and of violating California’s state sovereignty.

Asked if the National Guard was needed, LA police chief Jim McDonnell said police would not ‘go to that right away,’ but added, ‘Looking at the violence tonight, I think we’ve got to make a reassessment’.

In a social media post, Trump called on McDonnell to do so.

‘He should, right now!!!’ Trump added. ‘Don’t let these thugs get away with this. Make America great again!!!’

The White House disputed Newsom’s characterization, saying: ‘Everyone saw the chaos, violence and lawlessness.’

Businesses reported looting in Downtown Los Angeles overnight, sending officers scrambling to investigate.

Looters targeted businesses in the area of 6th Street and Broadway.

The LAPD has encouraged all residents and businesses to report all cases of looting as it prepares an official report.

The National Guard arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday after days of civil unrest following pro-migrant riots across the city.

On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the National Guard would ‘keep peace and allow people to be able to protest but also to keep law and order.’

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) was met with a door shut in her face after she demanded to check on an ICE detainee.

Waters was seen trying to enter the Los Angeles Federal Building to exercise her ‘congressional authority’ to check on SEIU California President David Huerta.

Huerta was injured and detained by federal agents during an ICE raid in downtown LA on Friday.

Footage shared on X shows how Waters pleaded with law enforcement to check on Huerta, but was not permitted to enter the building.

Waters later hit out at police over the incident, saying in a tweet: ‘I pled with the National Guard, which was heavily armed, not to use their weapons against peaceful demonstrators who were simply exercising their rights to freedom of speech and protest.

‘All people deserve to be treated with dignity and due process under the law. Peaceful, nonviolent demonstrations are critical to protecting our constitutional rights!’

The FBI is searching for rioters accused of assaulting federal officers and damaging government property during the LA immigration protests on Saturday.

The suspect injured an officer when he allegedly threw rocks at law enforcement vehicles on Alondra Boulevard in Paramount, California.

Officials are offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information that leads to the identification, arrest and conviction of the rioter.