In Maine, A Familiar Story Unfolds: Immigration Officers Fatally Shot The Driver Of A Moving Vehicle

In nan minutes aft an migration serviceman opened occurrence successful a mini coastal metropolis successful confederate Maine, a now-familiar communicative began to unfold: different personification had been changeable and killed wrong a moving conveyance during an migration enforcement operation.

The Department of Homeland Security later said nan serviceman fired his limb erstwhile nan man they were pursuing attempted to fly nan scene, threatening “public safety.”

It’s a communicative that has been repeated again and again since nan Trump administration’s migration crackdown began, pinch national officers confronting drivers past saying they opened occurrence erstwhile their vehicles became a danger. That's contempt decades of warnings from policing experts that shooting into moving cars presents a threat of its ain and should almost ever beryllium avoided.

The Embassy of Colombia identified nan man killed Monday successful Biddeford, astir 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland, arsenic Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national. Some friends, neighbors and an defense group person spelled his sanction “Joan.”

Nine dormant successful migration operations

He is nan ninth killed during migration operations since nan commencement of nan Trump administration’s wide deportation campaign. At slightest 4 of those deaths progressive group successful vehicles, including 1 past week successful Houston, a inclination truthful troubling U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Tuesday she urged DHS caput Markwayne Mullin “to cease each non-urgent conveyance stops.”

A personification acquainted pinch nan matter told AP Tuesday that management officials told migration officers to suspend astir conveyance stops. Some policing experts opportunity Immigration and Customs Enforcement should ne'er person conducted postulation stops.

“They’re saying that each these cases are justified because nan officers were successful danger,” said John Sandweg, who was acting head astatine ICE, which is portion of DHS, during nan Obama administration. “But past why nan hellhole are we putting nan serviceman successful threat by asking them to execute postulation stops?”

Sandweg, who estimates location person been astir 18 traffic-stop shootings during nan migration crackdown, noted location are galore different places to make arrests, from homes to workplaces.

The fatal conveyance shootings, though, support happening.

There was Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, changeable during a late-night postulation extremity successful South Texas successful March 2025, and Renee Good, a mother of 3 changeable and killed successful January arsenic she drove her car done nan streets of a Minneapolis residential vicinity amid increasing anti-crackdown protests.

Last week, it was Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican builder changeable and killed arsenic he drove his unit to a worksite successful Houston, wherever he had lived and worked for decades.

Shooting into moving vehicles creates threat for each who are adjacent

Each time, officials insisted nan national officers had fired because they feared they aliases personification other could beryllium killed by nan vehicles.

“Many of you person been told this rule enforcement serviceman wasn’t deed by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an guiltless woman,” Vice President JD Vance wrote connected X aft Good was killed. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired successful aforesaid defense.”

That shooting was captured connected aggregate bystander videos that contradicted nan administration’s communicative and prompted wide anger and protests against nan officers' usage of deadly force.

Much remains chartless astir nan others.

Officers were not wearing assemblage cameras successful nan Salgado Araujo aliases nan Durán Guerrero killings, contempt DHS announcing months agone that it would outfit each officers pinch cameras.

Geoffrey P. Alpert, an master connected policing astatine nan University of South Carolina, said without video evidence, investigators must trust connected witnesser statements.

“There’s surely a pattern, a practice, a inclination that is disturbing,” Alpert said, adding that constabulary departments decades agone began prohibiting officers from shooting into moving cars because if nan driver is injured aliases killed, they tin suffer control, turning nan conveyance into “an unguided missile,” threatening anyone nearby. Yet migration officers successful nan 2nd Trump management person many times killed group this way.

“Every slug needs to beryllium understood: why was it fired. Every clip an serviceman pulls nan trigger, we request to cognize why,” Alpert said. “We talked astir that past time, and we’ll talk astir that nan adjacent time.”

Texas lawmaker notes conflicting descriptions of Houston shooting

Doubts are already swirling astir nan charismatic communicative nan management told astir nan fatal shooting of 52-year-old Salgado Araujo successful Houston.

DHS officials said successful a connection that nan Mexican nationalist ignored commands and was trying to evade arrest, past attempted to ram his car into an officer, who opened occurrence successful self-defense.

Rep. Sylvia Garcia said she visited nan installation wherever nan men who were successful nan conveyance pinch Salgado Araujo are being held and said to 2 of them, raising “many alarming questions” astir nan administration’s claims.

“Here’s nan deal. I visited pinch them separately, and their stories were consistent, and overgarment a totally, wholly conflicting type of nan events,” Garcia said. They said that astatine nary clip were immoderate of nan ICE officers successful beforehand of nan vehicle. Instead, they told her nan officers were connected nan rider broadside and changeable Salgado Araujo, who was driving, done nan rider broadside window. The model had been unfastened because nan vehicle’s aerial conditioning was broken.

The DHS communicative quickly shifted

What precisely led to nan deadly shooting successful Maine remains unclear. Officers were successful Biddeford, surveilling an reside for a personification pinch a last bid of removal from nan country, past tried to extremity a conveyance driven by personification coming from that address, DHS said.

Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King said DHS Secretary Mullin told him nan serviceman opened occurrence aft nan man tried to usage his conveyance arsenic a limb against officers.

But astir 12 hours aft Durán Guerrero was killed, that communicative shifted: DHS issued a connection saying nan “vehicle attempted to fly nan segment and, fearing for nationalist safety, an serviceman discharged his weapon.”

When asked astir nan contrasting statements, King told CNN an investigation would uncover nan truth.

The state’s Office of nan Attorney General announced it would analyse nan shooting successful coordination pinch national authorities, promised transparency and encouraged witnesses to travel forward.

On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters gathered adjacent an ICE installation successful Scarborough, Maine. They held up a ample banner reference “No much ICE killings” and signs saying “stop nan murder” and “end this terror.”

“We request to ne'er spot this hap successful nan streets of Biddeford, Maine, and successful this country,” said Democratic authorities Sen. Mattie Daughtry, said during nan protest. “Never hide nan quality toll of what has happened present successful Maine, successful Minnesota, successful Texas.”

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Brook reported from New Orleans, Sullivan from Minneapolis and Galofaro from Louisville, Kentucky. Associated Press reporters Valerie Gonzalez successful McAllen, Texas, and Rebecca Santana successful Washington, D.C. contributed.