U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were involved in a fatal shooting in Biddeford.
That’s according to Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, a Biddeford Democrat, who released a short statement about Monday morning’s shooting near Pool Street.
Beyond that, Fecteau had few other details to make public, saying that the Maine State Police are at the scene gathering details. He expects the FBI to take over the investigation.
“These are the details that I have at this time. I will provide further updates, as they are relayed to me,” Fecteau said.
In a statement, Gov. Janet Mills said she has been briefed about the Biddeford shooting.
“I know that situations like these are alarming and frightening. The Maine State Police are at the scene supporting and working cooperatively with the Attorney General’s Office, Maine’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner, and Federal officials to determine the facts of what occurred this morning,” she said.
A witness told the Biddeford Gazette that he was driving by the intersection of Pool and Hill streets about 7:20 a.m. when he saw an unmarked Ford Explorer with flashing lights and two officers wearing green ICE vests. The witness, Biddeford resident Lucas Scott, told the media outlet that he heard four shots after the officers surrounded a white sedan with weapons drawn.
Officials have not yet identified the shooting victim, but in a joint statement, the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine said he was a 26-year-old from Colombia who had authorization to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number.
The victim may have been ordered to leave the country, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen told U.S. Sen. Angus King, according to the Maine independent’s office. King said that the federal agents weren’t wearing body cameras.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, said the shooting requires a “full and impartial” investigation.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat who represents Maine’s 1st District, where the shooting happened, said Monday that her office is working to get details about what happened. She urged Mainers to follow the guidance from local authorities.
Videos and photos circulating online appear to show at least two men wearing green vests emblazoned with “Police” and “Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” One photo showed a white Ford Explorer up against a white Kia sedan with apparent front-end damage on the driver’s side.
Protests were quickly organized in the aftermath of the shooting, with one rally planned for noon at Mechanics Park on Water Street. Community members have shown up near the scene of the shooting carrying signs critical of ICE.
A spokesperson for the FBI’s Boston field office said the agency responded immediately after the shooting but provided no other details.
The Maine attorney general’s office could not comment Monday morning on the shooting. Messages to the Maine Department of Public Safety and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Monday morning’s shooting is at least the 11th fatal shooting involving ICE or U.S. Border Patrol agents since the beginning of the second Trump administration. That includes this month’s fatal shooting of 52-year-old Lorenzo Araujo, a construction worker, in Houston, according to the Guardian.
Earlier this year, Maine became the latest state to see a surge in ICE agents as part of the Trump administration’s Operation Catch of the Day. That surge was cut short amid a nationwide pushback against the agency’s tactics following the fatal shootings of two protesters in Minneapolis.
Of the nearly 200 detained in Maine during the January ICE surge, only 11 had criminal convictions, undercutting the Trump administration’s claim that it was targeting the “worst of the worst.”