{"id":138826,"date":"2026-07-13T16:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T22:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fatal-shooting-in-biddeford-maine-involved-ice-state-house-speaker-says\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T22:22:22","slug":"fatal-shooting-in-biddeford-maine-involved-ice-state-house-speaker-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fatal-shooting-in-biddeford-maine-involved-ice-state-house-speaker-says\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE shot and killed a motorist in Maine. Advocates say he’s a 26-year-old from Colombia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blood
Blood is seen on the pavement near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) \u2014 A federal immigration officer fatally shot a motorist in Maine on Monday, the second time in a week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> agents have used deadly force and at least the ninth time since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n

Immigrant rights groups identified the man who was killed as a 26-year-old native of Colombia.<\/p>\n

Federal authorities were silent about what led up to the shooting, but U.S. Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against ICE agents in Biddeford, a coastal city roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in a vehicle \u2014 pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was \u2018weaponized\u2019 the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n

King, a Maine independent, said Mullin also told him the officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant but that it was for not for the person who was shot.<\/p>\n

King said Mullin told him that earlier information that the man was the target of an enforcement action was incorrect. He said Mullin \u201cgot new information, and when he got it he called me to tell me.”<\/p>\n

Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said Mullin told her the Homeland Security Department\u2019s Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.<\/p>\n

Messages seeking comment were left for ICE, the inspector general\u2019s office and the Maine Department of Public Safety.<\/p>\n

The Maine attorney general\u2019s office, which is also investigating, said initial statements suggest the motorist was trying to flee in the direction of the agent. The office said the agent who killed him has been placed on leave.<\/p>\n

Witness says he heard driver say, \u2018I tried to stop\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel Boucher said he looked out his third-floor window after hearing a \u201cpop, pop, pop\u201d sound and saw a small car \u201cturned 90 degrees to the curb\u201d with an SUV behind it. The driver was wounded and the car started moving down the street until the SUV hit it again, Boucher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis face was bloody. His head was bloody,\u201d Boucher said, getting choked up. \u201cI clearly heard the victim say, \u2018I tried to stop\u2019 \u2014 clearly heard him say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boucher said he saw an ICE officer bring a medical bag to where the man was lying before an ambulance and fire truck arrived. At one point, Boucher said, the agent who shot the man walked close to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was emotional and I just let him have it, and he looked at me and said, \u2018He tried to run me over,\u2019 or something to that effect,” Boucher said. “I don\u2019t remember his exact words.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man was authorized to work in the US, advocates say<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two advocacy groups \u2014 the Maine Immigrants\u2019 Rights Coalition and Presente! \u2014 said the man who was killed was authorized to work in the U.S.<\/p>\n

After the shooting, his family contacted the Immigrants\u2019 Rights Coalition, but they aren’t ready to speak publicly about the shooting, said the group’s executive director, Mufalo Chitam.<\/p>\n

Mary Hayes, who lives close to where the shooting happened, said the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband\u2019s dead body on the ground,\u201d Hayes told the AP as she held a piece of cardboard with \u201cNo ICE Stop ICE\u201d written on it. \u201cI watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she\u2019s never going to see her father again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colombian Embassy said it is in contact with U.S. authorities and \u201cworking to formally confirm the individual\u2019s identity and nationality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Security video but no body-worn camera footage<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cory Poulin, whose family runs a laundromat near the scene, told the AP that security cameras at the business captured footage of the man\u2019s car rolling into the intersection after shots were fired. Other images from the scene showed the car going in circles and bullet holes in its windshield.<\/p>\n

He said Maine State Police asked that he not release the footage publicly.<\/p>\n

The agents involved in the shooting didn\u2019t have body-worn cameras, King said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question is: What did he do with his vehicle?” King said. \u201cWere officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force?”<\/p>\n

Anti-ICE protesters gather near the scene<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dozens of demonstrators critical of ICE and Trump\u2019s ongoing immigration crackdown gathered in Biddeford within hours of the shooting.<\/p>\n

Amy Goodman, who is from nearby Wells, arrived with a sign that said \u201cStop Killing Us\u201d and directed it toward police working at the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, it\u2019s something we\u2019re seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I\u2019m mad about it,\u201d said Goodman, who was wearing a shirt that said \u201cICE is best when crushed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police blocked access to the shooting scene, which is in a neighborhood of mostly multifamily homes, churches and businesses. Several protesters stood nearby, with some holding signs condemning ICE’s presence in the community and state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable,\u201d Chitam said. \u201cHow much more harm must our communities endure before those with the power to act acknowledge that this has gone too far?\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent uptick in Trump’s immigration crackdown<\/strong><\/p>\n

On July 7, an ICE officer fatally shot<\/a> 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was taking his construction crew to a job site.<\/p>\n

The shootings come amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportations agenda<\/a>. During the five-day period at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities<\/a>, the arrests are surging. The administration\u2019s enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings<\/a> of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than anything else, I want to know, \u2018Why are you in Maine?\u2019” Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said in a video on social media.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of Maine ICE arrests since Trump\u2019s return<\/strong><\/p>\n

ICE had a significant presence<\/a> in Maine earlier this year, which prompted several protests. Immigration officials later said in late January that they had ceased \u201cenhanced operations\u201d in Maine after hundreds of arrests.<\/p>\n

A Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time that some Maine arrests were of people \u201cconvicted of horrific crimes” including aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Court records show that while some had felony convictions<\/a>, others had unresolved immigration proceedings or had been arrested but never convicted of a crime.<\/p>\n

ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of Trump\u2019s second term and March 11, 2026, the most recent data available, according to ICE arrest data provided to the University of California, Berkeley Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the AP.<\/p>\n

About 45% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds. During the equivalent 416-day period before Trump took office, roughly 69% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds, the data show.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story was updated to correct the spelling of Cory Poulin\u2019s first name.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Willingham reported from Boston and Brook reported from New Orleans. Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak in New York, Aaron Kessler in Washington and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

\"Protesters
Protesters gather at a park near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A vehicle is transported on a flatbed near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Biddeford
Biddeford City Councilor Abigail Woods hugs an unidentified constituent during an impromptu protest near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Protesters
Protesters gather near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blood is seen on the pavement near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty) BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) \u2014 A federal immigration officer fatally shot a motorist in Maine on Monday, the second time in a week that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-138826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138826"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138909,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138826\/revisions\/138909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138826"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=138826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}