Two children were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after being shot while riding in a Waymo autonomous vehicle Sunday night, police said.
The shooting occurred near the intersection of 2nd Street and Broadway in Santa Monica, according to the Santa Monica Police Department. One child sustained a wound to the arm and the other to the torso. Both victims are in stable condition at a local hospital.
Police said preliminary information indicates the shooting was targeted and followed a verbal altercation earlier in the evening between the victims and the suspect. The children were passengers in the autonomous rideshare vehicle when the suspect approached on foot and fired multiple rounds into the vehicle before fleeing, authorities said.
The victims and suspect were seen arguing a few blocks away from the shooting location, police said.
The incident adds to a series of violent attacks targeting Waymo's autonomous vehicles across Southern California over the past year, though Sunday's shooting appears to be the first wounding passengers and marks an escalation in violence involving the company's fleet.
The most dramatic incident occurred June 8 during anti-ICE protests in downtown Los Angeles, where demonstrators surrounded five Waymo vehicles near Los Angeles Street. Protesters slashed tires, smashed windows and spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the white vehicles before setting three of them ablaze. Video footage showed thick black smoke billowing from the burning electric vehicles as protesters tore off doors and one individual used a makeshift flamethrower to ignite a car's interior.
The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to douse the fires while police warned the public about toxic smoke from burning lithium-ion batteries. All five vehicles were empty at the time, with no safety drivers or passengers, and no injuries were reported.
The attack prompted Waymo to immediately suspend service in downtown Los Angeles and pull its fleet from the area indefinitely. The following weekend, anticipating further unrest during nationwide "No Kings" protests, Waymo proactively expanded its service suspension across Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Marina del Rey, Inglewood, Beverly Hills and Glendale. The company also temporarily grounded fleets in San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta as a precaution.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom publicly condemned the June violence, with Newsom attributing it to agitators who had infiltrated otherwise peaceful protests.
Earlier in 2025, Waymo faced sustained resistance from Santa Monica residents frustrated by constant safety beeping noises from the company's fleet of about 56 vehicles based in the city. Residents organized to physically block vehicles from entering or exiting charging facilities, using traffic cones, parked cars and even their own bodies in protests dubbed "stacking the Waymos."
The standoffs persisted through spring, prompting Waymo to call police at least six times and even seek a temporary restraining order against one particularly active protester, though a judge denied the request. Santa Monica officials became involved by February as noise complaints mounted.
In January, a Waymo vehicle was vandalized by a crowd in Los Angeles' Beverly Grove neighborhood near La Cienega Boulevard and West 3rd Street. Attackers kicked and jumped on the unoccupied car, tore off a door, smashed windows and the windshield, and flattened at least one tire. No arrests were made.
The pattern of attacks has extended beyond Southern California. In February 2024, a Waymo vehicle was set ablaze during Lunar New Year celebrations in San Francisco's Chinatown. In June 2024, a San Francisco man was arrested and charged with 17 counts of felony vandalism after slashing tires on 17 Waymo cars over three nights.
Observers have noted that the driverless vehicles have become targets partly because they are seen as symbols of intrusive technology and mobile surveillance devices. The vehicles carry arrays of sensors and 360-degree cameras, leading to perceptions among some protesters that they function as "surveillance cameras on wheels" that could assist law enforcement.
The Los Angeles Police Department has acknowledged using footage from Waymo cameras to help solve unrelated crimes, fueling concerns about surveillance among privacy-conscious demonstrators.
Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, has consistently tried to downplay intentional targeting of its vehicles, emphasizing after the downtown Los Angeles fires that it did not believe the cars were deliberately targeted but rather "happened to be present" during unrest.
Detectives are reviewing video footage and pursuing all leads in Sunday's shooting investigation. The Santa Monica Police Department asked anyone with information to contact the Watch Commander at 310-458-8427.
Waymo issued a statement saying the company is coordinating with police on the investigation. The incident remains under active investigation, with police promising updates as additional details are confirmed.