Maine AG announces state investigation into fatal ICE shooting in Biddeford 

The Maine Attorney General’s Office is investigating the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old Colombian man by federal immigration agents Monday morning in Biddeford.

The immigration agent who shot the man will be put on leave, according to a statement released by the office. The agent “was conducting an enforcement operation related to a final order of removal when the subject attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot,” the statement says.   

It is standard protocol in police involved shootings for officers to be placed on leave.

Several law enforcement agencies are assisting with the investigation, including federal authorities and local police departments from Biddeford and Saco, according to a statement on Monday.  

The Attorney General’s Office will remain on the scene to continue its investigation, and the man who was shot will not be named until positive identification is made and family members are notified.  

The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine identified him as a 26-year-old from Colombia, who was authorized to work in the United States and had been issued a Social Security number.

The Attorney General’s Office has advised the public to contact their local law enforcement agency should they have any information they feel would be helpful to the investigation. 

“We also understand this is a matter of significant public interest and while we will strive for meaningful transparency and accountability, our primary focus in this moment is on a complete, thorough investigation,” a press release from the office read.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen told independent U.S. Sen. Angus King on Monday that the man “was in a vehicle, pulled out in the vehicle, and,” in the secretary’s words, ‘weaponized’ the vehicle before being shot by an ICE agent, King said in a statement. 

DHS has alleged the “weaponization” of vehicles in several immigration agent shootings, including one earlier this month where agents shot and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Araujo in Houston.

Aside from the Biddeford incident, there have been at least 21 shootings,  10 of them fatal, involving immigration agents during president Donald Trump’s second term.

The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, Presente! Maine, public officials and other protesters on Monday called for an investigation independent of the federal government. 

There appears to be no video footage of the shooting. 

“Apparently there are no cameras,” King said in a statement. “Body cameras were not on the agents. So we have no video evidence of what occurred in this case.”