The injuries are the latest in a documented series of violent confrontations between federal agents and demonstrators at protests sparked by the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a Minneapolis woman killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this month.

Two men say federal agents blinded them in one eye with crowd-control projectiles at a Jan. 9 demonstration in Santa Ana, California, raising questions about the use of force at protests over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security has not answered questions about what type of weapon was used.

Kaden Rummler, 21, a college student, said he was struck in the face while demonstrating outside a federal immigration building in Orange County. He underwent a six-hour surgery on his left eye and now has no depth perception and can no longer drive, he said. Shards of metal and a nickel-sized piece of plastic remain lodged in his skull, according to his civil rights attorney, John Washington.

“It’s going to affect every aspect of my life,” Rummler told the Associated Press. He said he hopes to pursue a career in forestry.

Second protester also says he was blinded

A second demonstrator at the same protest, Britain Rodriguez, 31, told the Los Angeles Times he was also blinded in one eye by a projectile fired by federal agents. Rodriguez said he was standing on steps outside the immigration building when he was struck in the face.

“I remember hitting the ground and feeling like my eye exploded in my head,” Rodriguez told the newspaper.

DHS disputes the account

DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that the protesters were violent and that two officers were injured, without specifying the extent of their injuries. DHS said one demonstrator was taken to the hospital with a cut. McLaughlin confirmed to the Times that the reference was to Rummler and called his injury claims “absurd.”

The department did not respond to AP questions about what type of projectile was used.

Rummler has been charged with a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. A fellow protester was jailed for several days and has been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer.

Attorney questions projectile use

Washington said doctors want to know whether materials in the projectile could be toxic but have been unable to get answers from DHS. Based on their preliminary investigation, Washington said they believe the projectile was a capsule made from metal and plastic containing pepper spray.

Washington said his client could have been killed.

“Any officers with just the most basic training would know you don’t shoot someone ever in the face with this, but let alone at point-blank range, and that’s because it is a lethal weapon when used like that, and it very nearly was,” Washington said.

Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, said a thorough investigation is needed into the reason for using a high level of force in that situation.

“I don’t know of any projectile where you train to shoot at that close range,” Alpert said.

Context: protests following Minneapolis killing

The Jan. 9 demonstration was among hundreds that took place across Southern California to protest the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. Video from OC Hawk, a group that films breaking news in Orange County, shows officers in riot gear urging demonstrators to move back before firing crowd-control projectiles as they advanced toward the crowd. The video shows an officer firing a crowd-control weapon that strikes Rummler from several feet away.

Despite his injuries, Rummler said he would protest again.

“I refuse to sit around idly and watch that happen, and in 50 years, I would absolutely regret not trying to make a change,” he said.