The little girl was still in Bluey pajamas.
No older than 3, she was trying to smell the flowers.
At her side, a pink rolling bag.
Her father, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, had just been fatally shot and yanked from a car he’d been driving. Now, he lay handcuffed in the street, where he would remain for five hours.
“You took her dad, you took her dad!” a woman nearby yelled, according to Cecelia Humiston, 22, who witnessed the interaction in Biddeford on Monday morning.
It is the second time in a week that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have stopped the wrong vehicle while executing an arrest warrant and fatally shot someone.
Agents were not wearing body cameras in either shooting.
Immigration advocates in Maine said Guerrero, a 26-year old from Colombia, was authorized to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number.
Markwayne Mullin, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed to Sen. Angus King Monday that agents were working to execute an arrest warrant based on a subject’s immigration status, but that Guerrero was not the target.
The statement contradicted what Mullin had previously told the senator.
Multiple outlets reported that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national shot and killed by federal agents during a traffic stop in Houston last week, was also not the target of the day’s operations.
Guerrero was identified by a neighbor who witnessed the event, and the identification was confirmed by an immigrant advocacy organization that said they had been in touch with the family.
The shooting occurred at the intersection of Pool and Hill streets as Guerrero tried to flee “in the direction of the officer,” according to the Office of the Maine Attorney General, which is investigating the incident.
In a statement Monday evening, a spokesperson for ICE said agents were at the last known address of someone with a final removal order.
“ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop,” the spokesperson said. “The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon.”
The Biddeford Police Department was on scene to provide security, but clarified its officers were not otherwise involved.
Daniel Boucher, who witnessed the aftermath of the shooting, heard what sounded like gunshots and saw the law enforcement agents in vests ram the white Kia sedan. They pulled out Guerrero, who was bleeding heavily from the head.
“He was talking. He said, ‘I tried to stop,'” said Boucher, who was shaken by what he observed.
Other witnesses told the Bangor Daily News that they saw an SUV ram Guerrero’s car before agents surrounding him with weapons drawn. Officers yelled “weapon” several times before firing at the car. The paper shared video of agents pulling Guerrero’s limp body from the vehicle.
Witnesses heard as many as seven gunshots. The Kia Rio that Guerrero was driving had at least four bullet holes in the windshield.
By midday, Biddeford was flooded with several hundred protesters who chanted with signs at street corners, rallied in Mechanics Park and stormed into the local office of Sen. Susan Collins, Maine’s lone Republican in Congress.
A vigil was scheduled for Monday evening, with more protests expected Tuesday.
Democrats vying for the last-minute nomination in the Maine senate race all denounced federal immigration enforcement efforts in one way or another.
Collins called for a full and impartial investigation, as did several other Republicans running for office in Maine.
A spokeswoman for Collins said Monday evening that the Department of Homeland Security’s Boston office of the inspector general has taken over the investigation. The state attorney general confirmed the federal officer who shot Guerrero has been placed on leave, per standard protocol.
The Guardian reported last week that there have been 10 fatal shootings nationwide since President Donald Trump was elected to a second term and made immigration enforcement a top priority. The Associated Press has documented eight shootings.
Blood still stained the crosswalk at Pool and Hill streets Monday evening.
Staff Writers Rachel Estabrook, Randy Billings, Sophie Burchell, Abigail Driscoll, Gillian Graham, Gina Kaufman, Billy Kobin, Isabelle Oss, Eric Russell, Dylan Tusinski, Morgan Womack contributed to this story.
