An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a motorist in Maine on Monday, the second fatal shooting involving ICE in a week and the latest death connected to President Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
The incident occurred just after 7 a.m. in the coastal city of Biddeford, about 15 miles southwest of Portland. The driver was identified by local immigrant rights groups as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian man who was authorized to work in the United States.
The Colombian Embassy said in a statement that it was in contact with U.S. authorities and is providing assistance to Guerrero’s family. The embassy also said it has requested clarification from the U.S. about “the circumstances surrounding this lamentable death.”
The killing sparked immediate protests in Biddeford, which residents have said has seen increased ICE activity in recent weeks. Several hundred demonstrators gathered there on Monday night, with some chanting “ICE out of Maine!”
What federal officials are saying
Protesters attend a vigil for a man who was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13.
(Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, issued a statement on Monday evening that said ICE agents were “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal” when “an illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle.”
“ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop,” the statement said. “The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon. The driver of the vehicle was struck, and emergency services were immediately contacted. He passed away from his injuries.”
The statement did not say whether the driver was the subject of the surveillance. The DHS Office of Inspector General is investigating the shooting, it added.
Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin informed him that the victim was not the target of an arrest warrant.
King also said that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras.
What local officials are saying
The scene of the deadly ICE shooting in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13.
(Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
The Maine attorney general’s office, which is also investigating, said initial statements suggested the motorist had “attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of the officer.” The agent, who has not been identified, has been placed on leave, the attorney general’s office added.
Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain called for “a full, thorough and transparent investigation into this fatal incident.”
“A person has died, and their loved ones and the people of our community deserve clear answers about what happened,” he said in a statement.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat who represents Biddeford in Congress, said in a video posted to X that she was “so deeply disturbed and angry,” and demanded answers to a list of questions about the killing, including whether the officers were pursuing someone with a criminal record, if the ICE officers were wearing body cameras and why the person was shot.
“But more than anything else, I want to know, why are you in Maine?” Pingree said in reference to the ICE agents. “Every report we hear is about somebody being picked up who legally was here, and is this going to be another one of those stories?”
What witnesses said
People leave flowers and messages at a makeshift memorial for the victim in an ICE shooting in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13.
(Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
Daniel Boucher told the Associated Press that he heard several gunshots, looked outside his third-floor window and saw the wounded driver with blood coming from his head.
“I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop,'” Boucher said.
Mia Covino told the New York Times that she heard four or five gunshots and dropped to the floor inside her home. When she looked outside, she saw two law enforcement agents in plain clothes and green vests in the street and a white car “slowly spinning in circles in the intersection,” per the Times.
Nelson Elias, who also lives nearby, told NBC News that he heard six shots, and that he recognized the victim as his neighbor, who he said worked as a DoorDash delivery driver.
Mary Hayes, another neighbor, said that the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter, and that she saw them near the scene after the shooting.
“I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground,” Hayes told the AP. “I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”
Sadie Dilboy said the man often did laundry in her laundromat with his daughter, to whom he’d give quarters to buy candy from the vending machine.
“He was such a good person,” she told the AP. “He was always cleaning up.”
Another fatal ICE shooting
People pay their respects during a candlelight vigil at the site where Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed on July 08, 2026 in Houston, Texas.
(Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Guerrero was at least the ninth person to be killed during enforcement actions by federal immigration officers since the Trump administration launched its immigration crackdown early last year — and the second fatal ICE shooting in as many weeks.
On July 7, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, was shot and killed by an ICE officer during a traffic stop in Houston.
According to DHS, the man “rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.” But three people who were with Araujo inside the van he was driving, including his younger brother, disputed the agency’s account.
“At no point was there ever an agent standing in front of the vehicle, nor was an agent ever placed in the line of danger,” Hugo Balderas-Ibarra, an attorney who visited the witnesses, said during a press conference Friday. “That is simply false.”
Araujo was a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the U.S. for more than three decades. He was the father of three children, all U.S. citizens, and owned a construction business. He had no criminal record and was in the process of seeking legal residency, according to his family. According to Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Democrat whose district represents the Houston neighborhood where the shooting occurred, Araujo was not the person federal authorities had been targeting.
DHS said the ICE agents on the scene were not wearing body cameras and that their vehicles were not equipped with dashboard cameras. No videos of the shooting, whether from eyewitnesses or surveillance cameras, has surfaced publicly. The limited footage that has been released shows only specific moments before and shortly after the incident.
In the wake of fatal shootings in Texas and Maine, ICE agents have been reportedly been instructed to immediately suspend most vehicle stops during enforcement operations nationwide.
According to CBS News, the change is “temporary and will remain in place while ICE provides additional training to officers on vehicle-stop tactics.” The new policy excludes cases involving serious criminal targets.
