LOS ANGELES — A University of Southern California freshman who went to photograph a recent "No Kings" protest in downtown Los Angeles was allegedly shot with a less-lethal projectile by a Department of Homeland Security agent and had to have one of his eyes removed, according to his attorney.

Tucker Collins, 18, was shot in the eye with what appeared to be a projectile containing chemical irritants during the March 28 demonstration, said his attorney, V. James DeSimone. He was taken to the side of the protest at the Metropolitan Detention Center and given an eye patch. A nurse happened to be driving by and offered to take him to the hospital, DeSimone said.

"We've unfortunately seen in other instances where law enforcement has targeted the press with violence," he told The Times. "Instead of targeting people who were throwing things into the crowd, they were targeting someone who was documenting and taking photos of the crowd."

The Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Collins, who is still recovering and wasn't feeling well enough to be interviewed Monday, had his right eye removed as a result of his injuries, according to DeSimone.

"This is the third person who's lost an eye, maybe the fourth by a [Department of Homeland Security agent]." DeSimone said. "Two were in Orange County. I'm not representing those people but my former partners are. I see it as a really rampant problem across the board."

DeSimone's law firm has represented at least 15 people who were allegedly injured by Homeland Security agents during protests since last June, including a guitar player whose finger was shattered and a 79-year-old car wash owner who was slammed to the ground and experienced a brain bleed.

Federal judges have issued preliminary injunctions restricting Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from using tear gas, pepper-ball munitions and other less-lethal projectiles against protesters — banning the targeting of the head, neck or torso, except when deadly force is justified.

DeSimone said that he is planning on filing a federal civil rights lawsuit on Collins' behalf, claiming that an officer shot in reckless disregard of his rights under federal or state law.

"They're able to protect themselves in many different ways," he said. "There was no imminent threat to those officers and it's upsetting to see the level of violence. These less-lethal weapons are target specific and it's not like they're spraying it into the crowd and getting them to disperse. It's against policy and against the law to use them for crowd dispersal."

DeSimone said he has seen other cases in which a member of the press or someone taking photos was targeted by agents at a protest.

"I think unfortunately you have a mindset by some in the police agencies that the people out there exercising their First Amendment right is the enemy, instead of honoring that they're exercising their rights in the American tradition of freedom of speech and peaceful protest," he said.

DeSimone said that other lawsuits filed on behalf of individuals who say they were injured by Homeland Security agents are all in their beginning stages and still being filed. He said he is "confident" that he will be able to win those cases.

"I've been a civil rights lawyer for 40 years, but back during the protests of the 80s, they didn't have that kind of weaponry and they just hand them out like candy to these officers," he said. "These officers have high-powered toys in their hands but they're not toys. They may have a green stock barrel but they're 12-gauge shotguns that file at a range of over 200 mph so with that amount of force, we've got people with broken jaws and broken skulls. It's just heartbreaking."

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