'One in a million' malfunction rained shrapnel onto 5 Freeway near Camp Pendleton, report says
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The detonation of a military round over the 5 Freeway during an exercise at Camp Pendleton in October was a “one in a million” malfunction that investigators have struggled to explain, according to a report from the U.S.Marine Corps released Friday.The investigation determined the military round exploded before it was supposed to because the device’s fuze went off early, raining metal shrapnel below.
A California Highway Patrol cruiser was punctured by metal.“Of all days for this very low probability event to happen, why this one? What was different from the thousands of times before this event employing the same shell-fuze combination, weapons system, and highly trained Marines?” the report read.“There is no definitive answer to these questions.”The incident occurred Oct.
18 during the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary celebration, after Vice President JD Vance had been escorted to Camp Pendleton to witness the exercise.A 17-mile stretch of the freeway was stopped half an hour before the exercise was set to begin at 1:46 p.m., drawing the ire of thousands of weekend travelers.The White House initially criticized California Gov.
Gavin Newsom for shutting down the freeway during the military exercise, stating on X that “the Marines repeatedly said there are no public safety concerns.” But after word spread of the early detonation, Newsom called on the Trump administration to apologize, saying the exercise was “reckless” and one of the White House’s “vanity projects.”“We’re thankful to the Marines for their thorough and precise investigation — in stark contrast to the dangerous and performative demands by JD Vance and Pete Hegseth to shoot live ammunition over a civilian area for their entertainment,” said Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for Newsom’s office in a statement .The White House also did not respond to a request for comment.Ac...