ICE fatally shoots Colombian man in Maine; second deadly force incident in a week

A federal immigration officer fatally shot a Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday, marking the second instance in a week where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents employed deadly force. Senator Angus King reported that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas informed him the officer opened fire after the man attempted to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers pursuing him for deportation.

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He was in a vehicle, pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was 'weaponized' the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent.

"He was in a vehicle, pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was 'weaponized' the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent," King stated. The Maine attorney general's office, along with the FBI and other agencies, is investigating the shooting. Initial reports suggest the motorist was attempting to flee in the direction of the agent. The man was the subject of an enforcement operation related to a final order of removal. The agent involved has been placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure in officer-involved shootings.

Advocacy groups Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition and Presente! identified the deceased as a 26-year-old native of Colombia who was authorized to work in the U.S. and possessed a Social Security number. Witnesses described a harrowing scene, with one resident, Mary Hayes, recounting seeing the man's wife fall to her knees upon seeing her husband's body. "I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she's never going to see her father again," Hayes told The Associated Press.

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I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband's dead body on the ground. I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she's never going to see her father again.

Security camera footage from a nearby laundromat captured the man's car rolling into an intersection after shots were fired. Other images showed the car moving in circles with bullet holes in its windshield. Cory Poulin, whose family owns the laundromat, told the AP that ICE members ran to the intersection while another used an SUV to stop the car. Senator King also noted that the agents involved did not have body-worn cameras, raising questions about the circumstances and justification for the use of deadly force.

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The question is, what did he do with his vehicle. Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force?