Johan Sebastián’s family remembers him as a loving and devoted man

Three days after Johan Sebastián was killed by federal immigration agents, his wife Karolina Rojas Alvarez remembered him as a loving and devoted father and husband who took care of their family, went to the park with his daughter every afternoon and held her till she fell asleep every night. 

Speaking through tears, Rojas Alvarez said her 25-year-old husband “always dreamed big, and he had so many dreams left to fulfill.”

Rojas Alvarez and her daughter saw Sebastián’s body in the street moments after the shooting on Monday morning, witnesses to the aftermath told Maine Morning Star. The girl was reportedly still in her Bluey pajamas.

“Now my daughter asks for Papa, and I don’t have the strength to tell her that Papa isn’t coming,” Rojas Alvarez

“Every night she asked for him. She always slept next to him, and now she can’t.”

Thursday was the first public appearance by Sebastián’s wife. His sister and their translator stood on either side of her as she spoke. Portland-based attorney Benjamin Gideon introduced the family, saying Rojas Alvarez “wanted to make this statement because she wants to ensure that Johan Sebastián’s memory does not become a casualty of the same people who so needlessly took his life.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that Sebastián was not the target of the agency’s investigation. An ICE spokesperson told Maine Morning Star that the agency was doing targeted surveillance on the last known address of someone with a final order of removal. “The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon,” the statement from an unnamed ICE spokesperson read. 

Gideon pushed back on that account on Thursday, saying Sebastián was leaving for work in the morning, and pulled out of his own driveway only to be shot to death.

“Nobody in Biddeford, Maine, had asked any of those federal agents to be there that morning,” Gideon said. “They were responding to no ongoing report of any criminal activity.

“We as a nation and we as a community have to answer a simple question: Do we accept the idea that innocent, loving partners and loving and devoted fathers of 3-year-olds can be collateral damage to this government’s policies?” Gideon asked.

Immigration officials have not named or confirmed the name of the agent responsible for the shooting, but said the ICE officer has nearly a decade of federal law enforcement experience with required training.

On the morning of the shooting, Nelson Elias, who lives on the corner of Hill and Pool streets across from Sebastián’s family, said he woke up to yelling. He remembers hearing what he later learned were federal agents shouting “stay down” to someone in a car, followed by six gunshots.

After confirming that his family was all at home and safe, Elias went outside and saw Sebastián dead and federal agents wearing green vests still in the street surrounding him. He also saw Rojas Alvarez and her daughter sitting in the street, crying.

Because federal agents were still around, Elias said he went back inside his own home, scared and unnerved. As restaurant workers, Elias said he  and his brother also knew Sebastián when he would pick up orders for food delivery. 

“It’s difficult for us to sleep now,” Elias said.

Elias’ family continues to go between work and home, but any time they spend on the street is scary, they said. 

“I think the whole neighborhood was shocked by it, because Biddeford is normally a quiet place where hearing gunshots is very rare.” his wife said. “At the same time, it feels even worse knowing that the person involved was Latino — just like me — because it could have happened to any of us simply because of the color of our skin.”