CNN’s Veronica Miracle Hit With Pepper-Spray Bullet on Live TV (VIDEO)

CNN correspondent Veronica Miracle got caught in the proverbial crossfire on live TV on Friday as she got hit with a pepper-spray bullet at an anti-ICE protest in Los Angeles.

Miracle was reporting on the protest at Los Angeles’ Metropolitan Detention Center for Erin Burnett OutFront shortly before 5 p.m. local time when she started coughing.

“OK, I just got hit. Hold on. Hold on,” she said, barely getting words out between coughs.

Anchor Erin Burnett urged Miracle to take her time.

“Sorry. I can’t breathe,” the correspondent. “I’m sorry. I just got hit in the leg. Yeah, sorry about that.”

The CNN cameraperson on the scene also panned down to show a white, powdery substance on Miracle’s pant leg. “So obviously, they’re shooting something,” Miracle said. “Pepper balls or something.”

Miracle then continued her reporting, and she later shared footage of the encounter on Instagram.

“The CNN team is OK and safe — thank you to those watching who were concerned,” she wrote. “We got out of there right after this live shot as the situation became more chaotic. This happened after a long day of peaceful protests throughout Los Angeles. #ICEprotests.”

In her Instagram Stories, Miracle added, “The pepper bullet didn’t hurt, but the pepper spray definitely did.”

Veronica Miracle/Instagram

Police officers and Department of Homeland Security agents fired pepper balls at protesters and sprayed them with chemical irritants, according to CNN. The Los Angeles Times added that law enforcement deployed a chemical agent into a crowd of about 200 people outside the detention center.

“Due to violent agitators on Alameda between Temple and Aliso, the City of Los Angeles has gone to tactical alert,” the Los Angeles Police Department Central Division said in an X post shortly thereafter. “Federal authorities are taking debris, bottles, and other objects. Federal authorities have declared an unlawful assembly at the detention center, and they have deployed pepper balls and tear gas.”

Karen Bass, the city’s mayor, wrote on X, “Peaceful protest is a constitutional right. I urge Angelenos to exercise that right safely and not give this administration an excuse to escalate. Los Angeles stands together.”