A man fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Maine has been identified only as a 26-year-old migrant from Colombia, according to emerging reports.
Although authorities have not publicly released his name, the man was authorized to work in the United States and had a Social Security number, the Portland Press-Herald reported.
The fatal encounter happened in Biddeford shortly after 7 a.m. ET on Monday, with early accounts and video from the scene raising new questions about the moments leading up to the shooting.
One eyewitness said the driver was shot after failing to follow officers’ commands and then accelerating toward them.
New footage from the scene showed the man’s white Kia moving slowly in circles through an intersection while an ICE agent ran alongside the vehicle.
It remains unclear whether that video was recorded before or after the shooting, a gap that has prompted lawmakers to demand swift answers about what took place.
Residents said ICE agents had been active in the town for roughly a week, though it has not been established whether Monday’s deadly confrontation began as a chance encounter or whether the Kia driver had intentionally approached officers.
Additional Ring camera footage obtained from inside a nearby home by The Maine Wire captured the sound of the confrontation, including what appeared to be about five gunshots fired in quick succession.
Photos taken in the aftermath showed a bullet hole on the windshield of the white Kia sedan being driven by the victim when he was killed.
A witness told the Portland Press-Herald that the man emerged from the car bleeding profusely from his head moments after the shooting.
Photos taken from the scene show the victim lying on a nearby road, as ICE agents and police consoled each other.
New footage shows a Kia being driven around in circles around the time its owner was shot dead by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Biddeford, Maine on Monday
A driver was shot dead by ICE officers in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday morning after allegedly trying to mow down agents with his car
Footage circulating social media showed a man laying by the side of the road as police and ICE agents provided aid and consoled each other
It remains unclear if the victim happened upon ICE by chance or if he was protesting the presence of officers.
Agents have been carrying out raids in Biddeford in recent weeks and locals knew they were there, the Press-Herald reported.
Maine’s House Speaker Ryan Fecteau said he was waiting to hear details over what led to the deadly shooting, saying in a short statement: ‘A person was killed. ICE was involved.
‘State Police and the Department of Public Safety are now on scene to gather details and would expect the FBI to investigate as well. These are the details that I have at this time. I will provide further updates, as they are relayed to me.’
Witness Lucas Scott, 18, told the Press Herald that he was driving through the intersection moments before the shooting, and saw a group of unmarked vehicles descend on another car.
He said he saw agents in ICE uniforms confronting the driver of the vehicle, seconds before an agent pulled his weapon and ordered the man to exit his car.
‘The car was put into drive and was trying to hit the ICE officer,’ Scott said. He said he then heard the ICE agent fire several shots quickly.
A spokesman for Biddeford Police told CNN that there was no further threat to the public.
Details of the fatal shooting are still developing, and lawmakers have called for answers as to what the ICE agents were doing in the small Maine town or why the driver’s vehicle was targeted
Agents hugging each other in footage taken in the aftermath of the shooting
Investigators at the scene on Monday
Two women hug each other near the scene of the deadly shooting
Mary Hayes, a resident who lives near the scene, told the Press Herald that she did not see the agent open fire, but arrived in time to see the victim lying in the street.
‘There’s a dead body down there,’ she said.
‘I mean, we live in Maine. We don’t expect this to happen here. What have we come to?’ she added.
Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree said she was ‘deeply disturbed and angry’ by the news.
‘I, of course, need to know all of the answers here,’ the Democrat said.
Pingree said she wanted to know if the ICE agents were pursuing a migrant with a criminal record or if the shooting was a routine traffic stop, but added, ‘More than anything else, I want to know why you’re in Maine?’
‘Every report we hear is about somebody being picked up who legally was here, and is this going to be another one of those stories?’
Officers at the scene of the shooting on Monday morning, after witnesses said they saw the victim ‘trying to hit the ICE officer’ with his car
A witness said he saw the driver ‘trying to hit the ICE officer’, moments before hearing an agent fire roughly four shots
It comes just days after an ICE agent fatally shot a Mexican immigrant during a traffic stop in Houston, which sparked mass protests.
Scrutiny on ICE activities was also compounded by the fatal shootings of anti-ICE protesters Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota earlier this year.
The shooting on Monday has quickly led to calls for protest, with the social justice group Biddeford Saco for Racial Justice saying on Facebook that it would be holding a demonstration within a matter of hours.
‘Folks are really upset,’ the group said. ‘I imagine there will be more.’
