TikTok user recorded video of helicopter sweeping downtown LA days before protests

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a U.S. Marines attack helicopter with "no other major purpose except military assault?"

Not quite. 

After U.S. Northern Command deployed 700 Marines to Los Angeles on June 9, a video of an attack helicopter among the city’s skyscrapers trended on social media. 

The Trump administration sent the Marines battalion and thousands of National Guard members to respond to the LA immigration raid protests over the objection of Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., who said local police had it covered.

However, users misattributed the date of the video to make it seem as if the aircraft was monitoring protests.

"President Trump is NOT playing games," a conservative account on X said about the video. Others reposted the clip and said the aircraft was armed with "anti-personnel HYDRA missiles or TOW missiles." 

The real story is different. LA-based musician with the stage name "Dcline One," Ed Martinez, originally posted the clip to TikTok and YouTube on June 7. 

The video shows a Bell AH-1Z Viper, "a style of attack helicopter that routinely flies out of U.S. Marine Corps air stations near San Diego, such as Miramar and Camp Pendleton," The Washington Post reported. 

Camp Pendleton officials did not immediately respond to PolitiFact for comment.

The metadata of Martinez’s video, which PolitiFact verified, shows the helicopter was recorded June 2, days before the protests began. 

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Facebook posts

stated on June 8, 2025 in a Facebook post

“BREAKING: Rep. Maxine Waters calls for the United States to grant citizenship to every undocumented protester in Los Angeles” 2025 protests.

"Military aircraft fly by all the time, it’s routine," he said. Martinez told PolitiFact he keeps an iPhone folder with flyby videos. 

A U.S. Northern Command spokesperson confirmed Marines’ protest work involves ground support, not aerial. 

The Marine Corps’ official Instagram account left a comment on an Instagram post sharing the video: "There are no Marine Corps aviation assets in the greater Los Angeles area."

Our ruling

The viral video does not show a military helicopter ready to launch an assault on protesters. Military aircraft routinely fly out of U.S. Marine Corps air stations near San Diego, and the video was recorded before protests began in Los Angeles. 

This claim is False.