Protest over killing of driver by ICE officer in US

Hundreds of people have taken part in a protest in Maine over the killing of a Colombian man by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

The officer, who was "fearing for public safety", opened fire when the driver tried to flee agents attempting to pull him over, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

DHS said in a post on X that the incident in Biddeford around 7am local time (12pm UK time) on Monday happened as ICE officers were watching the home of someone they thought was in the US illegally and had a final order of removal from the country.

The shooting has sparked outrage in Biddeford and the wider area. On Monday night, the spokesperson for a Maine senator said the driver who was shot dead was the wrong target.

On Tuesday, demonstrators gathered outside an ICE detention centre in Scarborough, which is between Biddeford and Portland.

It comes as ICE has told officers to suspend most vehicle stops around the country, two sources told Reuters, after the fatal shooting and another one six days earlier in Texas.

The Colombian embassy said the driver in Maine was 26-year-old Colombian national Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, the Associated Press reported.

Immigration campaigners have said he was authorised to work in the US, and outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing "at the hands of the US government".

Angus King, an independent senator from Maine, has said the agents involved were not wearing body cameras.

And homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin told Mr King that ⁠the man killed was not the target of the operation, according to a spokesperson for the ⁠senator.

The shooting came six days after an ICE agent in Houston, Texas, fatally shot a 52-year-old man, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, following a traffic stop during an immigration enforcement operation.

He was not the target of the operation, a DHS official has said.

ICE said the Mexican national, who had lived in the US illegally for over three decades, rammed a law enforcement vehicle with his van and attempted to run down an officer who fired in self-defence.

The latest killings mean at least seven people have been shot dead during immigration enforcement operations since January 2025, when President Donald Trump began a campaign of mass deportations.

Read more:
What is ICE and what powers do its agents have?

Meanwhile, ICE has told officers to suspend most vehicle stops around the country, two sources told Reuters.

Asked about the suspension of traffic stops, an ICE spokesperson said: "We are ‌always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets. We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics."

A witness to the Biddeford incident, 71-year-old Daniel Boucher, said he was on the second floor of his apartment when he heard what sounded like firecrackers.

He said he went to the window and saw a white SUV ram a smaller white car.

After running down to street level, and from 20ft (6m) away, Mr Boucher said he saw an ICE officer emerge from the SUV, open the ⁠car's door and pull out the driver, who had blood on his face and head.

"I remember hearing the victim say, 'But I tried to ​stop'," Mr Boucher said, before the man appeared to stop breathing.

The Maine attorney general's office said it is working with federal agencies to investigate the incident.

It said that initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name has not been released and who was placed on leave.

In January this year, 37-year-old US citizen Renee Good was shot dead in her car by ICE agents in Minneapolis, sparking demonstrations across the country.

Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents two weeks later.

(c) Sky News 2026: Protest over killing of driver by ICE officer in US