An ICE officer shot and killed a man in Biddeford who was not the target of the operation

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a man in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday morning during an operation targeting someone else, and the Maine Attorney General's Office has opened an investigation into the shooting.

The Attorney General's Office said in a statement Monday that an Enforcement and Removal Operations officer was carrying out an operation "related to a final order of removal when the subject attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot." Police in Biddeford and Saco, the Maine State Police and federal authorities are assisting. The office said it would not name the man until he was positively identified and his family notified, and that the officer who fired would be placed on leave, which it called standard protocol in police shootings.

What the government has said

The Department of Homeland Security said officers were watching the last known address of a person with a final order of removal, that a man left the residence in a vehicle, and that officers tried to stop him. The vehicle fled, and "fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon," the department said. DHS said emergency services were called right after the shooting, that Biddeford police and the FBI responded, and that the DHS Office of Inspector General was notified.

Sen. Angus King, an independent, said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the man who was killed was not the person named in the warrant the officers were executing. King said Mullin used the term "weaponized the vehicle" to describe what the man did before he was shot.

"He had been given an order to leave the country," King said at a news conference at the Portland jetport. "He was in a vehicle. Pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the Secretary used was 'weaponized the vehicle.' He was shot by an ICE agent."

King said the FBI is leading the investigation and that he wants state and local police kept informed. He said he was concerned the officers were not wearing body cameras. The Attorney General's Office describes itself as the investigating agency, with federal authorities assisting. Those two accounts of who is running the investigation have not been reconciled publicly.

Who was killed

The Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine said the man was a 26-year-old Colombian who was authorized to work in the United States and had been issued a Social Security number. The Portland Press Herald reported that a neighbor identified him as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, and King's office also confirmed the name. The state has not released an identification.

Footage recorded immediately after the shooting showed a white Kia rolling slowly in circles through an intersection while agents shouted "shots fired." Later video showed agents pulling the man from the car before officers began first aid.

Reaction from Maine officials

Gov. Janet Mills said she had been briefed. "I know that situations like these are alarming and frightening," she said in a statement, adding that the State Police were at the scene working with the Attorney General's Office, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner and federal officials.

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, said "the shooting in Biddeford requires a full and impartial investigation of what happened." Protesters gathered outside her office in the hours after the shooting.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat who represents Maine's 1st District, posted a list of questions to ICE on social media. "Were they pursuing someone with a criminal record? Was this a random traffic stop? How did this possibly happen and why was this person shot? Were the officers wearing body cameras? Will there be investigations?" she said. "But more than anything else I want to know why are you in Maine?"

Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, said in a statement that "a 26-year-old member of our community is dead following an incident involving ICE." The coalition and Presente! Maine called for an independent investigation of every agency and officer involved and said ICE "must not be allowed to investigate itself."

Context

This is the second fatal shooting involving ICE in a week. An officer killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, in Houston earlier this month. Maine was the focus of a federal immigration crackdown this past winter, and DHS reduced its presence in the state after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, though enforcement in Maine has continued.

The Attorney General's Office asked anyone with information to contact local law enforcement, and asked people who gather in response to remain peaceful. It said it would provide updates as the investigation proceeds.