Independent Journo Documents Carnage In Los Angeles: ‘I Was Surrounded By A Mob’

As anti-ICE rioters began to swarm Los Angeles on Friday, former PragerU personality-turned-independent-journalist Aldo Buttazzoni was right there to greet them.

Buttazzoni captured the escalating situation with photos and video footage, dedicated to painting a more accurate picture of the riots than he knew the mainstream media would. He documented the activity on his X feed, where hundreds of users have shared his photos, including tech titan Elon Musk.

This is my photo! Thank you for sharing Elon! @elonmusk

— Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) June 9, 2025

“I love independent journalism,” Buttazzoni told The Daily Wire. “I was in Houston after the Uvalde shooting. I was in D.C. right after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. When there’s stuff going on, I like to be there because I know how much disinformation there is. To be quite honest, I trust myself to get that news out and get the stuff that other people might not.”

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Protests clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Friday, June 6, The Daily Wire previously reported. Many hardline Democrats sided with the protestors, with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass saying she was “deeply angered” by the ICE raids.

On Saturday, Buttazzoni spent the entire day in Paramount, which is on the border of Compton, and said that was the first day the rioting started.

NOW: Current scene in Paramount, CA between protestors & LAPD pic.twitter.com/Mo9IwTGlbE

— Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) June 7, 2025

“We have good gear, so I personally don’t feel like I’m in imminent danger, but it is scary,” he admitted. “It’s definitely jarring when there’s explosions going off next to your ear. [As] a public figure, the most dangerous and scariest part is having your face out there. On Friday, before things even got really bad, I was surrounded by a mob of protestors and assaulted.”

NOW: Anti-ICE protestors surrounded me & attempted to grab my belongings while documenting the protests.

They accused me of being an agitator & “infiltrator” despite me wearing a name tag. I never hide who I am when filming protests like I have done countless times. pic.twitter.com/vST8pLdOls

— Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) June 7, 2025

“[Saturday was] when I really saw the damage. The street was damaged, dumpster fires, empty lots caught on fire, graffiti, vandalism. … I would say the mile-radius of immediate damage was Hill Street to Temple to Central Avenue. It was relatively small, but that doesn’t discount the amount of damage they were able to do in such a small area.”

Buttazzoni said personal politics should not matter in situations where the law must be enforced, especially when violence is involved.

“President Trump is not taking over. He’s doing the bare minimum job that the citizens elect people to do, which is to keep their cities safe. … On Sunday, I witnessed rioters tearing up sidewalks and hurling twenty to thirty pound rocks off an overpass while shouting, ‘Aim for the heads, aim for the heads!’ That’s all that needs to be said. There was violent intent, not just violent outcomes.”

🚨BREAKING: Rioters are tearing up the side walk & collecting ROCKS to throw at law enforcement. LAPD continues to show incredible restraint despite multiple of their vehicles being destroyed.

Graffiti & destruction is widespread with no sign of stopping. pic.twitter.com/igkbnVrzdw

— Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) June 9, 2025

Despite having documented multiple protests and riots, Buttazzoni said these are the worst he’s ever seen and that the rioters’ brazenness is the most disturbing part of it.

“The protests and the riots I’ve been to, there’s always a sense of fear. Or, at least, there’s a sense that people are on alert that they’re going to get caught. On Sunday, I don’t think I’ve ever seen protestors act with such impunity and such confidence that law enforcement was going to do nothing — or could do nothing.”

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has come under fire for his mishandling of the riots, yet refuses to take responsibility, blaming President Donald Trump for escalating the situation by sending in the National Guard.

“Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions,” Newsom said in an X post.

Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions.

If he can’t solve it, we will.

To the bad actors — Violent acts will not be tolerated. You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You are doing more than just damage to buildings and property. You are… pic.twitter.com/VMLqdUDS56

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 9, 2025

Buttazzoni disagrees, saying the National Guard “absolutely needed to come in.”

“I want to stress this — yesterday was the least violent of all of the three days, and I think a big reason for that was because the National Guard was deployed. They were stationed at the Federal Building very early on in the day, and what we saw throughout the day was a significantly increased presence of LAPD on the street.”

This is the least violent / least amount of altercations of the last 3 days (so far). Possibly due to it being the work week & increased media presence.

— Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) June 10, 2025

According to Buttazzoni, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, LAPD presence on the street lasted only until nightfall because they did not have the manpower to protect the federal buildings at the same time. He said that when the National Guard came in, LAPD made more arrests than the prior three days combined.

“They corralled a big group of rioters. Maybe 150 people were in that group. I was detained, but that large scale arrest was the first I had seen of the last four days.”

All is well. LAPD detained & released me after verifying my information.

Thank you for the well wishes. https://t.co/f1xRjO1jYV

— Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) June 10, 2025

Buttazzoni went on to criticize the higher-ups for choosing to complain about President Trump’s involvement instead of welcoming it.

“When you’re the governor of a state and the downtown area is being destroyed — people are losing businesses and people are getting injured and the taxpayer is going to have to foot the bill for this. So, for them to not do their job and then get upset at a person higher than them saying they’re going to do their job for them … it’s ridiculous.”

As an independent journalist, Buttazzoni pays for much of his own expenses and is accepting donations toward his continued activity.