An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot a motorist in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday, July 13, during an immigration enforcement operation, marking the second fatal ICE shooting in less than a week. Neighbors identified the victim as 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a Colombian national who immigrant rights organizations said was authorized to work in the U.S.
The incident marked the second time in a week that ICE used deadly force against a civilian and, according to the Associated Press, is at least the ninth death linked to ICE operations since President Donald Trump’s expanded immigration crackdown began.
ICE says officers shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero out of fear for ‘public safety’
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said ICE agents were conducting surveillance at a residence associated with a person with a final order of removal when they attempted to stop a vehicle leaving the address. According to DHS, the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said the incident involved an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer who has since been placed on administrative leave. Initial findings indicate “the subject attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot,” he said.
According to reports, the attorney general’s office, the FBI and the DHS Office of Inspector General are all investigating the shooting. Sen. Susan Collins said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told her the inspector general’s office was leading the federal investigation in cooperation with the FBI.
The Colombian Embassy confirmed it was in contact with U.S. authorities and “requested information and clarification” from DHS “regarding the circumstances surrounding this lamentable death.” The embassy further said it was providing consular assistance to Guerrero’s family.
Senator questions justification for deadly force
Independent Sen. Angus King said Mullin told him officers had traveled to Biddeford to execute an arrest warrant but that the warrant was not for Guerrero. Maine Gov. Janet Mills said that fact made the shooting even more troubling. “The death of a man the government was not even looking for makes this tragedy even more disturbing and infuriating,” Mills wrote on X. “It underscores the reckless and haphazard manner in which immigration enforcement operations are being conducted in Maine and across the country.”
King also noted that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras. “Did this young man actually try to run over an ICE agent or was he in danger of running over other people in the street?” King asked. “Was there a reasonable expectation of bodily harm or deadly force to justify this shooting? … That’s what this investigation is all about, and I certainly intend to stay after it to do everything I can to be sure the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible,” he added.
Community mourns Joan Sebastian Guerrero’s death
Witness Daniel Boucher said he heard “pop, pop, pop” before seeing the wounded driver. “His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.’” Boucher also recalled an officer telling him, “He tried to run me over,” or something to that effect.
The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! described Guerrero as “a member of our community, a neighbor, and a human being whose life was cut tragically short.”
Neighbor Mary Hayes said she witnessed Guerrero’s wife collapse beside his body while their young daughter cried nearby. “I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground,” Hayes said. “I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Biddeford later that day to protest ICE.
“We will always be a city of immigrants,” Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau said in a statement.
Second ICE shooting in a week raises concerns
The Maine shooting followed another fatal ICE encounter in Houston on July 7, when ICE agents shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a targeted immigration enforcement operation. DHS identified Araujo as a Mexican national and claimed that he “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,” adding that he had rammed an ICE vehicle and ignored repeated verbal commands before an agent opened fire “in self-defense.” He later died at a hospital despite receiving emergency treatment.
DHS said it would investigate the shooting, while the FBI launched a separate investigation into the alleged assault on a federal officer. The two fatal shootings in less than a week have renewed calls for independent investigations into ICE’s use of deadly force during immigration enforcement operations.