(CNN) — A simple memorial of flowers and candles has gone up near the spot on a Maine street where Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero’s partner fell to her knees and his 3-year-old daughter cried after he was fatally shot by an ICE officer on Monday.
Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old food delivery driver from Colombia, died Monday in the historic Atlantic coast city of Biddeford, where neighbors remembered him as a good man and hard worker.
“Immigrants make Biddeford great,” read a sign at the makeshift memorial.
It was the second fatal shooting by a federal officer within a week, leading Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make a major reversal and direct officers to largely suspend vehicle stops until further notice, according to a source familiar with the guidance.
An ICE officer fired his weapon “fearing for public safety” as Durán Guerrero, in a vehicle, “attempted to flee the scene,” the Department of Homeland Security said in its first official statement nearly 12 hours after the shooting. He was not the target of the enforcement operation.
To neighbors in Biddeford, however, Durán Guerrero was not seen as a public safety threat. Instead, the young man who lived with his partner and daughter was described by neighbors as quiet and reserved.
“We just ask for justice for his family. It was hard to see his wife sitting there just crying and screaming,” neighbor Nelson Elias said.
“I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again,” Mary Hayes, who lives near the intersection where the shooting occurred, told The Associated Press.
Durán Guerrero’s partner, Karolina Rojas, the mother of their child, posted a photo tribute to him Monday on social media, writing in Spanish there are no words for her pain, she has many outstanding questions and her “soul aches.”
On one of the images showing the couple, Rojas wrote, “Give me great strength, my love — I beg you. Stay with me every step of the way; Don’t leave us alone, I beg you.”
Durán Guerrero had authorization to work in the United States and had obtained a Social Security number, according to Mufalo Chitam, director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition. Federal officials have not confirmed those details.
About 7 a.m. on Monday, Durán Guerrero left his his home on his way to work, according to a neighbor. Video surveillance obtained by The Associated Press appears to show the car with him inside as it’s being stopped. Once the vehicle has been stopped, agents can be seen pulling the driver from the vehicle and laying the body on the ground.
Agents were not equipped with body cameras, so there is no firsthand video of what happened. The Department of Homeland Security pledged earlier this year to expand its body camera program, but a slow rollout since then means the equipment hasn’t reached all agents, including those involved in the shooting in Maine.
Durán Guerrero was from the city of Bucaramanga, in north central Colombia.
He had emigrated to the United States seeking a better life for his family, his father told Colombian radio station Blu Radio. He said his son had also worked at a veterinary clinic.
“He was a good person … raised with values,” Omar Durán said.
The Colombian government, through its embassy in Washington, demanded a “thorough and immediate” investigation and a clarification from the Department of Homeland Security about the circumstances of his death. His family in Colombia, meanwhile, has begun the process to repatriate his body.
DHS, in a statement, did not provide additional details about why the agent believed the man was a risk.
Carlos, a friend of Durán Guerrero’s and a neighbor in his building, called him “an excellent person, a good father, good husband.”
Isabel Paredes, another neighbor, said Durán Guerrero and his family were well known in the area. “They say they were a very calm family, that the young man was very dedicated to working and taking care of his wife and daughter,” said Paredes, her voice breaking.
“There are a lot of people who have been trying to talk to them and help them,” she said of Durán Guerrero’s family members, whom she described as scared.
Durán Guerrero’s death has moved the community and prompted questions from several elected officials.
“ICE, out of our neighborhoods,” “Biddeford was built by immigrants,” “How would you feel if your child lost their father?” read some signs that neighbors left Tuesday at the makeshift memorial.
Last week, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant, was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Houston while on his way to work. ICE, in a statement, said he attempted to evade arrest when agents tried to conduct a traffic stop, describing it as a “targeted enforcement operation.” Salgado Araujo was not the target of an immigration operation, according to a source with preliminary details about the incident.
“These are not isolated incidents: they reflect an immigration control system that continues to operate with very little transparency, very little accountability, and devastating consequences for our communities,” said New York Assembly member Jessica González-Rojas in a statement. “No one should fear that an encounter with federal immigration agents could end in tragedy.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday condemned the young man’s death, calling it “a murder.” He demanded “the murderers pay for their homicide,” according to a post he wrote on X.
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