▶ Watch Video: Maine House speaker slams ICE after agent fatally shoots man: “We want ICE out”
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Maine fatally shot a man in his car on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said, marking the second time in a week that ICE officers have used deadly force in the U.S.
DHS alleged the man, who was in the country illegally, had “attempted to flee the scene” when ICE tried to stop him at around 7 a.m. ET in Biddeford, Maine, and “fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.” He later died from his injuries. DHS said ICE agents encountered the man while “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal.”
DHS did not name the man. A family representative and the Colombian Embassy in Washington, D.C., confirmed to CBS News on Tuesday that his name is Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national. A source with knowledge of the investigation had earlier told CBS News his first name is Joan, and an immigrant rights group had said he was 26.
Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine said on CNN that “the person that was killed was not the person that they were seeking,” citing a conversation he had with Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin. The senator said Mullin initially told him the man was the intended target of a warrant, but about three hours later, Mullin called him back with updated information that the man actually wasn’t the target.
In a news conference earlier Monday, King said the deceased man had been given an order to leave the country.
Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine said in an interview with CBS News that she had “heard on good authority, though it’s not been confirmed by [DHS], that they perhaps shot the wrong person, that it was not the person they were going after.” She called the shooting “very disturbing” and said she is pressing DHS for more information.
The Colombian Embassy issued a statement saying it “regrets the death of a Colombian national in Biddeford, Maine and is providing the necessary consular assistance to his family.” The embassy said it has “requested information and clarification from the Department of Homeland Security regarding the circumstances surrounding this lamentable death and will continue to follow the case closely as the investigation progresses.”
During Monday’s news conference, King said Mullin told him the man had “weaponized” his vehicle. In its statement later Monday, DHS did not use that wording, instead saying the officer shot at the man out of concern for “public safety.”
King told CNN “we haven’t seen evidence” yet suggesting that the officer feared for their safety or the safety of others, and called for an “unvarnished, transparent investigation.”
The agents involved in the shooting weren’t wearing body cameras, King told reporters.
Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said on social media she was told that the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general will take the lead on investigating the shooting, with help from the FBI.
The state attorney general’s office, which is also investigating the shooting, said in a statement that the man “attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of” an officer with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations directorate, according to initial statements collected by investigators. The officer who opened fire will be placed on leave, according to the attorney general’s office.
Videos show car circling, man pulled from vehicle
The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition said the man killed in the shooting was authorized to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number.
A neighbor, Nelson Elias, told reporters that the man was married with a young daughter who’s about 2 or 3 years old.
‘This was a father. This was a person who was trying his best to create a life and provide for his family,” Ruben Torres, of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, told CBS News. “Overall there’s kind of just a general sense of confusion, pain and anger, both from the community and then also a sense of loss and hurt from the family.”
A video of the incident, taken from a nearby security camera and obtained exclusively by CBS News, appeared to show the vehicle slowly driving in a circle a few times before coming to a stop. At least two people then approached the car and appeared to pull a person from the driver’s seat out onto the ground.
Cory Poulin, who owns a pawn shop and laundromat across the street, said he believes the vehicle was rolling because the driver had already been shot. He said he considers it a community tragedy.
“If someone’s a different race and wants to do laundry, I don’t want them to be worried that they’re going to — that they have to worry about ICE coming in and doing what they do,” Poulin said.
A photo from the Portland Press Herald shows a car behind police tape with four bullet holes in the windshield on the driver’s side.
Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
The Press Herald also posted a video of the incident from another angle. The video, which was recorded from a nearby vehicle, shows two people approaching the car while it’s moving, and one person appears to grab onto the driver’s side door handle before the video ends.
“The question is, what did he do with his vehicle?” King told reporters. “Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force? 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.”
Em Akerley, who lives near where the shooting happened, told WMTW-TV she initially thought she heard a car backfiring and went to her window when the sound continued.
“I see a small white car being corralled by two men trying to stop it from losing control around the intersection and, all of a sudden, all these plainclothes, vested men sort of running down the street, abandoning their cars kind of everywhere with regular people behind them,” she said.
She said she didn’t see the man who was shot.
“I don’t know what he did, but he didn’t deserve to be executed in the street,” Akerley said. “I didn’t hear anything until the gunshots.”
Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via AP
Project Relief Maine, an immigrant advocacy group, said in a statement on social media that the person who was killed was one of their community members.
“We are in contact with the family and are committed to supporting them during this unimaginable time,” the group said. “This was a young person whose life was cut short, and our community must come together to stand with their loved ones and ensure they are not alone. They must get justice.”
Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said she was briefed on the shooting. “I know that situations like these are alarming and frightening,” she said in a statement.
The Maine State Police was at the scene after the shooting working with the state attorney general’s office, the state Office of Chief Medical Examiner and federal officials, Mills said. Democratic State House Speaker Ryan Fecteau had said on Facebook that the state Department of Public Safety was also at the scene gathering details.
The Biddeford Police Department said in a statement that it responded to an incident involving ICE personnel at the intersection of Pool and Hill streets and was providing security at the scene. The department directed inquiries about the incident to ICE.
A community vigil was set for Monday evening.
Maine shooting comes after deadly incident in Houston
The shooting comes after an ICE officer shot and killed a Mexican man in his work van last week in Houston.
In that incident, security camera footage obtained by CBS affiliate KHOU-TV shows ICE officers in unmarked vehicles followed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo after he picked up co-workers for a construction job.
The Department of Homeland Security said officers thought one of the men resembled someone they were looking for and that Araujo attempted to run over an officer who fired in self-defense. An attorney for two of the men in the van said the ICE officer fired into the vehicle through a window on the passenger side.
“Lorenzo had already parked the van. The ICE agent reaches in, fires a shot directly in front of Victor’s face, strikes Lorenzo on the side,” attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra said in an Instagram video.
The ICE officers involved in that shooting weren’t wearing body cameras and didn’t have dashboard cameras in their vehicles. The FBI is investigating the shooting.