Marine Corps artillery mishap part of unusual firing over highway

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

PUBLISHED Oct 21, 2025, 1:05 PM ET


The US Marine Corps is no stranger to firing live ordnance as part of training, but it had been years — more than 70, according to one US official — since Marines had fired artillery over a stretch of the I-5 interstate in California like troops did last weekend during the Corps’ 250th birthday celebration.

The very first shell fired as part of the demonstration exploded on Saturday over the interstate, stretches of which serve as the busiest highway in America, dropping at least one shell fragment on a parked California Highway Patrol cruiser. The celebration at Camp Pendleton, California, was attended by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Marine Corps is currently investigating what went wrong with the round, a 155mm artillery shell that had been fired by an M777 Howitzer. The day before Marines had successfully fired more than two dozen shells from the same batch of artillery, according to the official, lending more questions as to what happened on Saturday and why.

CNN has reported there were no injuries from the incident, which the California Highway Patrol Border Division Chief Tony Coronado called “an unusual and concerning situation.” The Marine Corps did not respond to questions about who made the decision to fire over I-5, when the last time was that the Marine Corps fired artillery over the interstate, or if there were broader concerns regarding the artillery batch the shell that prematurely detonated came from.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/21/politics/marine-corps-artillery-155-mishap

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REFERENCES

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