‘So You Murdered Him?’: Critics Sound Off On DHS Statement Of Deadly ICE Shooting

Critics on social media tore into the Department of Homeland Security’s explanation for the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday at the hands of an ICE officer.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) initially said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him an officer opened fire after the man allegedly attempted to weaponize his vehicle. King also said that Mullin told him officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant, but the man who was shot and killed was not the target.

However, DHS issued a statement that contradicted this account of events. On Monday afternoon, the department said on X that the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”

DHS has frequently used the weaponized vehicle claim to justify shootings by immigration enforcement officers. That reasoning has come under increased scrutiny in recent months after video evidence in many cases has come to light, showing the government’s account of events to be untrue.

Two immigrant advocacy groups, the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente!, told The Associated Press the man who was killed was authorized to work in the U.S.

Mary Hayes, who lives near where the shooting happened, told AP that the deceased victim also resides in the area with his wife and daughter.

“I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground,” Hayes told AP. “I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”

This is at least the ninth fatal shooting at the hands of federal immigration officers since President Donald Trump began his mass deportation campaign.

Since DHS’s official statement did not attempt to use the weaponized vehicle defense or claim the officer’s life was in danger, many critics questioned why the use of deadly force was necessary:

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