Australia’s Albanese calls shooting of journalist at Los Angeles protests ‘horrific’
Lauren Tomasi was hit by a rubber bullet that appeared to be fired by a US police officer while covering the unrest
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has strongly condemned the shooting of an Australian journalist with a rubber bullet during protests in Los Angeles, describing footage of the incident as “horrific”.
Albanese said his government had made representations to the Trump administration over the incident. A video released online showed Nine News reporter Lauren Tomasi being hit with a rubber bullet that appeared to be fired by a police officer while covering the Los Angeles protests on Sunday.
The prime minister said he had spoken to Tomasi, who he said was “going OK”.
“That footage was horrific,” Albanese said after an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday. “We have already raised these issues with the US administration. We don’t find it acceptable that it occurred and we think the role of the media is particularly important.”
When asked if he thought that Tomasi had been deliberately targeted for being a member of the media, Albanese said she was “clearly identified” as a journalist. “There’s no ambiguity,” he added.
In a post on social media, Nine News said Los Angeles police were undertaking a “formal investigation” into the incident.