A live artillery shell exploded prematurely during a US military live-fire demonstration that launched over a southern California freeway in celebration of the US Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary, raining shrapnel down on a California highway patrol (CHP) vehicle and a motorcycle that was part of JD Vance’s detail, according to a police report.
The New York Times reported that fragments that fell from the 155mm shell landed on vehicles parked on a ramp on Interstate 5 – a major artery through southern California – which the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, had ordered closed after learning that military officials had no plans to close the freeway.
