Joan Sebastian Guerrero was reportedly on his way to work when federal immigration officers surrounded the area near his Biddeford home.
He was not the person they had come to arrest.
Minutes later, the 26-year-old Colombian man was dead.
Follow @allchronologyAn Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot Guerrero during a Monday morning operation in the small coastal Maine city, igniting protests, multiple investigations and a furious demand for evidence that federal authorities may not possess.
The agents were not wearing activated body cameras.
That absence has left investigators and the public attempting to reconstruct a fatal confrontation through distant security footage, witness statements and sharply conflicting accounts from the federal government and Guerrero’s community.
By Monday evening, hundreds of people had gathered in Biddeford carrying signs declaring “ICE Kills,” “Abolish ICE” and “Is this the America we want?”
Their anger transformed the normally quiet city of roughly 23,000 residents into the center of a national fight over immigration enforcement, deadly force and federal accountability.
Immigrant-rights organizations identified the man as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a Colombian national who lived locally with his wife and young daughter. Advocates said he possessed federal work authorization, had a Social Security number and was attending immigration-court proceedings.
Authorities had not publicly confirmed his full immigration status by Monday night.
But Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin acknowledged one crucial fact: Guerrero was not the target of the warrant ICE agents were attempting to execute.
Follow @allchronologyThe Department of Homeland Security said agents were watching an address connected to another person who had received a final removal order.
When officers attempted to stop Guerrero’s car as it left the address, DHS said he tried to flee. An officer fired because he feared for public safety, according to the agency.
Mullin separately told King that the officer believed Guerrero had used—or attempted to use—the vehicle as a weapon.
Those claims remain under investigation.
Available security footage reportedly shows Guerrero’s vehicle moving in the area as law-enforcement vehicles blocked portions of its path, but the recordings do not provide a complete, unobstructed view of the moment the officer opened fire.
There is no body-camera recording to resolve the dispute.
“Body cameras were not on the agents,” King said after speaking with Mullin.
The senator said the homeland security secretary promised him a full, fair and transparent investigation. But the absence of direct footage immediately raised fears that the public would be asked to trust an agency’s description of its own officer’s actions without seeing what the officer saw.
A witness told reporters that Guerrero appeared conscious briefly after being removed from the vehicle and said he had tried to stop.
He later died from his injuries.
Follow @allchronologyMaine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office opened an investigation into the use of deadly force. State police, local departments and federal authorities are also participating, while the FBI is involved in reviewing the incident.
No final determination has been made about whether the shooting was legally justified.
That uncertainty did not calm Biddeford.
Protesters marched through the city before gathering outside Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ local office. Some entered the building’s lobby, chanted “Vote her out” and struck the locked office doors as police positioned themselves between demonstrators and staff.
Collins called for a full and impartial investigation.
Her critics argued that demanding an investigation was insufficient after she supported legislation directing tens of billions of additional dollars toward immigration enforcement. Democratic Senate candidates accused her of helping expand an agency they said now operated with inadequate oversight.
The demonstrations were driven by more than a single disputed shooting.
Guerrero’s death came less than one week after an ICE officer fatally shot another man during an enforcement operation in Houston. In both cases, federal authorities alleged that a vehicle created a threat to officers.
The similarities intensified demands for independent review of ICE’s vehicle-stop tactics and use-of-force policies.
Advocates in Maine rejected the idea that Guerrero’s death should be treated as an unavoidable consequence of immigration enforcement.
Follow @allchronology“Our communities are hurting,” Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition Executive Director Mufalo Chitam said.
The organization described Guerrero as a working member of the community and the financial provider for his family. The Colombian Embassy said it was communicating with American authorities and assisting his relatives.
The political reaction quickly spread beyond Maine.
Democratic officials across the country cited the shooting as evidence that Trump’s intensified immigration campaign had made fatal encounters more frequent and less transparent. Some renewed demands to abolish ICE entirely; others called for mandatory body cameras, stronger independent oversight and restrictions on vehicle pursuits.
Supporters of ICE cautioned against condemning the officer before investigators established whether Guerrero’s driving presented an immediate danger.
That factual question will be central to any legal review.
Federal officers are permitted to use deadly force only when they reasonably perceive an imminent threat of death or serious injury. Whether Guerrero’s vehicle created that threat cannot responsibly be decided from political statements or incomplete online clips.
But another fact is already established:
ICE entered Biddeford looking for someone else.
By the time the operation ended, Joan Sebastian Guerrero—a 26-year-old husband and father who was not the target—was dead.
His community wants to know why.
Follow @allchronologyThe government says its officer feared for public safety.
The protesters filling Biddeford’s streets say the public is no longer willing to accept that explanation without evidence.
And because the agents’ body cameras were not recording, the clearest account of Guerrero’s final moments may be the one piece of evidence that does not exist.
