ICE officer fatally shoots Colombian man during immigration operation in Maine

A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot a 26-year-old Colombian man during an immigration enforcement operation in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday. The shooting occurred in the town of 22,000 residents, just a week after an ICE agent shot and killed a Mexican man in Texas.

According to Maine's attorney general's office, preliminary information indicates that an ICE officer was carrying out an enforcement operation linked 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 office said the officer involved would be placed on leave in accordance with standard procedure following police-involved shootings. The FBI is also investigating the incident.

Witness recounts final moments

Local resident Daniel Boucher, 71, told AFP he heard "a lot of pop, pop, pops" before seeing ICE agents remove a person from a white vehicle with injuries to the head and face.

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"At that point I clearly heard the victim say 'I tried to stop,' something to that effect," he said.

"Then he was on the ground. I could only see the legs and the stomach, and at one point, I could see that his stomach stopped going, and I knew that he had expired."

Boucher also said that when he later confronted one of the agents, the officer told him the man had attempted to run him over.

ICE outlines sequence of events

An ICE spokesperson said officers had gone to the individual's last known address at around 7:00 am (1100 GMT) after conducting surveillance on a person with a deportation order.

"The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon. The driver of the vehicle was struck, and emergency services were immediately contacted. He passed away from his injuries," the spokesperson said.

The Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition and Presente Maine, which identified the victim as a 26-year-old Colombian but did not disclose his name, said he had been authorised to work in the United States.

"We will not let this death be reduced to a footnote in this administration's enforcement statistics," said Crystal Cron, executive director of Presente Maine.

Maine Governor Janet Mills, referring to an unconfirmed US media report suggesting the man was not the intended target of the operation, said she was "horrified by this tragedy".

"This development makes this tragedy even more disturbing and infuriating, and it underscores the reckless and haphazard manner in which immigration enforcement operations are being conducted in Maine and across the country," she wrote on X.

Investigation under way

Images from the scene showed a residential street sealed off by police, with forensic investigators working beside a red tent. Candles and flowers were later placed nearby in memory of the victim.

Protesters gathered in the area carrying signs reading "ICE Out!" and also assembled outside the office of Maine Senator Susan Collins, a Republican.

Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain called for transparency as investigations continue.

"A person has died, and their loved ones and the people of our community deserve clear answers about what happened," he said in a statement.

ICE agents, tasked with enforcing the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, have faced growing criticism over their enforcement tactics, including the shooting deaths of two US citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.