Fox News reporter goes inside Portland riots, details horrific scenes during 12-hour stint with federal agents

Fox News reporter William La Jeunesse visited Portland, Oregon, to cover the ongoing violent riots.

What he saw during his 12-hour visit, stationed with federal agents at Portland's federal courthouse, highly disturbed him.

What are the details?

La Jeunesse discussed the conditions during Thursday's "Fox News Rundown" podcast.

La Jeunesse told host Dave Anthony that the environment inside the courthouse is "pretty crazy." The protests begin about 9 p.m. and remain peaceful until about midnight.

"You're inside of a building that is pitch black," he recalled. "They keep the lights off so people aren't silhouetted, so they can't be targeted by the people outside."

He revealed that he was told to put on a gas mask in order to stave off the effects of tear gas.

"It literally coats the floor and the wall," he said. "And it just kind of sits there in the air."

Fellow reporter, Mike Balsamo of the Associated Press, issued similar disturbing remarks in a recent report.

Balsamo also recently visited the center of the Portland riots where he said tear gas from protests the night before "still hung in the air" and "coated the floor with a slime that had been hurriedly mopped up by custodians earlier that day."

'Don't look at the laser'

La Jeunesse pointed out that he was also outfitted with a flak jacket and a helmet to protect him from "debris and rocks and frozen bottles and things that were thrown at you when they finally open the doors."

Other projectiles, La Jeunesse said, included "bats, hockey sticks, a thing with nails in it where you'd hit somebody."

"What was very inventive was the lawn sprayer that you'd use for pesticides," he recalled. "[Agents] confiscated, like, 12 of those."

He also said that industrial lasers are a crowd favorite.

"These are not like a laser pointer that you'd use in class," the reporter added. "These are the lasers they use that can reach, you know, pilots in airplanes. They're really strong, and [as] soon as they open the doors, they'll train those lasers on you. And, of course, you're instructed 'Don't look at the laser.'"

He also recalled the moments when rioters launched fireworks at the fortified federal courthouse.

"It's really loud and very disconcerting when you're on the inside," he said. "And these things, when they burn up in front of you, they burn agents' legs and arms and neck, stuff like that. They've got to go in for treatment."