ICE Agent Shoots and Kills Colombian Man in Biddeford, Maine — Wrong Target, Senator Says

A 25-year-old Colombian man was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine. Senator Angus King says the victim was not the intended target of the arrest warrant.

Colombian Man Killed by ICE Agent in Biddeford; Maine Senator Says He Was Not the Target

A 25-year-old Colombian man was fatally shot by a federal immigration enforcement officer on a residential street in Biddeford, Maine, early Monday morning, according to reporting by radiojamaicanewsonline.com. Federal and state law enforcement officials have launched an investigation into the incident, and questions remain over whether the man killed was the intended target of the arrest warrant that prompted the operation.

The shooting occurred just after 7 a.m. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents had been conducting surveillance at the last known address of an individual with a deportation order. When a man left the property in a vehicle, agents attempted to carry out a traffic stop.

"An illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle," ICE said in a statement. "ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon."

Shortly after, U.S. Senator Angus King, an independent, told reporters at the Portland Jetport that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had informed him the man shot was the subject of an immigration arrest warrant. "He had been given an order to leave the country," King said. "He was in a vehicle, pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the Secretary used was 'weaponized the vehicle.' He was then shot by an ICE agent."

Hours later, King's office walked that back. Spokesperson Matthew Felling said Mullin subsequently told the senator that the shooting victim was not, in fact, the intended target of the warrant. "Sen. King continues to emphasize the need for a full and transparent investigation," Felling said.

Maine Governor Janet Mills, citing King's updated account, sharpened her criticism of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement approach. "This development makes this tragedy even more disturbing and infuriating, and it underscores the reckless and haphazard manner in which immigration enforcement operations are being conducted in Maine and across the country," Mills wrote on X. "This has to end."

The attorney general's office said in a press release that initial information indicated the subject had attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of an officer before being shot. The involved officer has been placed on administrative leave, consistent with standard protocol in officer-involved shootings.

King said the FBI is leading the investigation and expressed concern that the ICE agents were not wearing body cameras. U.S. Senator Susan Collins also called for "a full and impartial investigation," and said Monday night that Mullin had informed her the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general office in Boston had taken over the inquiry in cooperation with the FBI.

Residents near the scene described the chaotic moments that followed. Em Akerly, who lives nearby, said she initially thought she heard a car backfiring. "I heard one very definitive shot and then in rapid succession, bang, bang, bang," she said. She looked out her window and saw a white car slowly moving through an intersection with two officers attempting to stop it. "As they were corralling the car, all these other people in plain vehicles and plain clothes with vests started running down the street," Akerly said. "It didn't really click until a man came running up the street and said 'ICE just killed someone.'"

JoAnn Martin, another Biddeford resident, said she was heartbroken. "I was just talking to a lady who saw this gentleman laying in the road this morning and watching his little one look at him in the street, dead," she said. "How do you find words for that?"

Marcia Lifshitz-Haines, who was diverted by authorities while driving to an exercise class, said she was appalled by what she learned. "ICE does not belong on the streets in the United States murdering people. No human being is illegal. I cannot stand this; I am embarrassed and I am horrified and I am appalled," she said.

Approximately 200 people gathered in Biddeford at midday for a rally demanding that ICE cease its operations in Maine, called hastily in the hours following the shooting.

The Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine said Monday afternoon that the man who was shot had been authorised to work in the United States and held a Social Security number. The groups called for "a prompt, independent, and transparent investigation" of every agency and officer involved.

"Today, a 26-year-old member of our community is dead following an incident involving ICE," said Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition. "We are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable."

The Colombian embassy in Washington, D.C., confirmed that consular staff are in contact with federal officials and local organisations assisting with the case, and are working to formally confirm the victim's identity and nationality.

Source: Google News JM — Crime