The man killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Biddeford on Monday was not the target of the warrant the agent was executing, according to U.S. Sen. Angus King’s office.
A King spokesperson said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told the Maine independent that the victim was not the target of the enforcement action. Earlier Monday, King said Mullin told him the man was the subject of an order to leave the country.
The shooting immediately reverberated through Maine’s Senate race, where protesters chanted “vote her out” and pushed into the entryway of Collins’ Biddeford office Monday afternoon. It came in the middle of an unprecedented Democratic caucus-and-convention process for the right to face her in November after the withdrawal of June primary winner Graham Platner.
Officials have not officially identified the victim of the 7:17 a.m. shooting. A neighbor told the Portland Press Herald the man was Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, originally from Colombia, a description that matches a joint statement from immigrant-rights groups who said Guerrero had work authorization and a Social Security number.
Agents rammed Guerrero’s sedan’s passenger side with an SUV, surrounded it with weapons drawn and ordered the driver out, according to a witness who filmed from her Pool Street porch. When the driver appeared to try to flee toward an officer, at least one agent opened fire, she said, an account matching a statement from Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office that said the driver was attempting to flee.
Collins said Mullin told her the Boston office of the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General has taken over the investigation in cooperation with the FBI. The Maine attorney general’s office and Maine State Police are also involved.
Democrats vying to replace Graham Platner on the November ballot against Collins moved quickly to weigh in. Jordan Wood called the shooting “another act of violence in our state” during a Lewiston news conference, saying ICE under the Trump administration is “terrorizing our streets.” Troy Jackson and Nirav Shah, both of whom lost their party’s nomination for governor earlier this year, also called for the agency to be dismantled.
Bobby Charles, the Republican nominee for governor, urged Mainers not to get “ahead of the facts” and said any agent whose life was threatened “had every right under the law to protect himself.”
A spokesperson for ICE did not confirm whether the victim was the target of its warrant. The spokesperson said the agency was conducting targeted surveillance on “the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal.”
“An illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle,” the spokesperson said. “ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon.”
The Biddeford shooting comes six days after ICE agents fatally shot a 52-year-old father from Mexico, during an enforcement operation in Houston. Democratic lawmakers there asked state police on Monday to open an investigation into that shooting, citing unanswered questions.
No video from the Houston incident has surfaced. The Department of Homeland Security has said the man tried to ram his car into an agent, who fired in self-defense.
BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.