“This isn’t Maine. This isn’t the United States that I know,” Jackson said. “It’s not going to stop unless we do come together.”

The city square has been the site of several ICE protests, including massive demonstrations during the surge in January.

The vigil closed out with a group song led by Singing Resistance Portland Maine. 

The crowd began marching slowly up Sullivan Street, singing, “Our love is stronger than the fear,” about 10 minutes into the gathering, with local police blocking off traffic.

A number of anti-ICE protesters made their way to that corner and shouting matches erupted. A handful of Biddeford police officers intervened, separating the groups.

As across-the-road shouting continued between some, the vast majority of anti-ICE protesters circled the park’s gazebo for the vigil, which kicked off with songs promptly at 7 p.m.

The agency said a man, who they described as an “illegal alien,” left the residence in a vehicle. When the driver “attempted to flee the scene,” a federal officer discharged his weapon, ICE said.

“The driver of the vehicle was struck, and emergency services were immediately contacted. He passed away from his injuries,” the ICE spokesperson said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear whether the man killed was the subject of ICE’s targeted enforcement. Sen. Angus King said the man was not the intended target of ICE’s arrest warrant.

According to ICE,  the shooting will be investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.

“This is a developing situation, and we will update the public when more information is available,” the federal agency said.

“I’m looking to see more updates, and I’m hoping that the federal government and state authorities will work cooperatively so we can be informed about this, and especially for the family,” LaFountain said.

Reports of ICE activity have increased in Maine in recent months, including Biddeford.

“I have heard anecdotally from residents in the last month or so that (ICE) incidents have picked up but, obviously, this one stands out in its tragedy,” he said.

The mayor acknowledged the fatal shooting occurred in a highly visible area of the Biddeford and a number of community members witnessed it. He said city will be looking into resources it can provide those impacted in the coming days.

Neighbors identified the victim as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old man from Colombia. Immigrants rights activists said he was authorized to work in the United States. King spokesperson Matthew Felling said he was not able to confirm the name of the victim, who has not yet been identified by authorities.

Seven months ago, the after-work rush would have brought in several customers, Montero said, gesturing to the empty shop. At 4:30 p.m. on Monday, there was no one.

“Now it’s slow because they’re afraid. They’re afraid to be out,” she said.

Charles, who drew criticism from the left on the campaign trail for his rhetoric about Somali American lawmakers and how he wants to stop the “Islamification of Maine,” added that “we also welcome, wholeheartedly, every lawful immigrant who comes here to work, to assimilate and to build a life under our laws.”

 He said he believes “in due process, the presumption of innocence and letting facts, not politics, drive our conclusions.”

“That applies to everyone involved,” Charles said. “Maine is one of the most law-abiding states in the country, and we owe our law enforcement — local, state and federal — our respect and our support.”

The name was also confirmed by an immigrant advocacy organization who said they had been in touch with the family.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have not responded to repeated requests for information about the shooting, including the victim’s name.

Nelson Elias, one of Guerrero’s neighbors, told the Portland Press Herald that he did not know many details about Guerrero’s life, but said he has a young daughter and a wife.

Read the full story here.

“That blood was going back five or six feet,” McCue said, pointing to the sidewalk.

The corner of Pool Street and Hill Street is lightly stained with red. A woman who asked not be be named dropped a handful of sunflowers at the corner, pulled out a pack of chalk and wrote “THIS IS BLOOD” where the body had been.

The mayor said he had no new details to add to what he shared in a statement earlier in the day, but would be available to media in the evening.

“I recognize the fear and uncertainty that an incident of this magnitude has brought upon our city,” LaFountain said in his statement earlier Monday. “The safety and well-being of every person who lives, works, and visits our city remain my priority.”

Spokespeople at ICE and DHS still have not responded to repeated requests for information Monday.

“I would vote ‘no’ on any appropriations for ICE,” Shah said at a news conference. “They have proven themselves unable and incapable of discharging their mission in a manner that does not result in the murder of Americans and other citizens. By definition, they have lost their way.”

Shah was addressing reports that a man was shot and killed by authorities in Biddeford on Monday and that ICE was involved.

Shah, a Democrat, is one of a half dozen or so Democrats running in a pop-up primary for U.S. Senate, after Democratic nominee, Graham Platner, withdrew from the race after a Maine woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2021. He denied the accusation.

Speaking to reporters after a policy rollout, Shah said an estimated 8-10 people have been killed by federal law enforcement in Trump’s second term.

Shah said shutdowns, whether total or partial, are “troubling,” but may be necessary to reform the agency.

“If you take the position that we should not shut down the federal government, then what you are saying is that: those numbers of eight to 10 people, that’s just not enough people, and that is absolutely morally unacceptable,” he said. “And so I refuse to say, well, that’s not enough death or destruction. That is a cowardly position, and I will not embrace it.”

The federal officer, who works as an enforcement removal operations officer, will be placed on leave “as is standard protocol in police involved shootings,” according to the attorney general’s office.

The state attorney general’s office is actively investigating the shooting and will remain on scene with various authorities, according to a Monday news release. The agency is asking members of the public to contact their local law enforcement agency with any information that would be helpful to the investigation.

The victim, who is a man, will not be named by state authorities until he is positively identified and family is notified, according to the attorney general’s office.

“We understand individuals may want to gather and make their voice(s) heard. We ask that people remain peaceful, be respectful of others, and follow the directions of local law enforcement officers who will be maintaining public order,” the agency said in a statement Monday. “We also understand this is a matter of significant public interest and while we will strive for meaningful transparency and accountability, our primary focus in this moment is on a complete, thorough investigation. With this in mind, we will work to provide updates as appropriate.”

“We will get answers, but we do not have them yet,” LaFountain said. “I am calling for a full, thorough and transparent investigation into this fatal incident, with the full involvement and cooperation of appropriate state law enforcement authorities. A person has died, and their loved ones and the people of our community deserve clear answers about what happened.”

“I just heard from one of my colleagues that the officers weren’t wearing body cameras,” Pingree said. “That’s extremely distressing because we need to know exactly what happened here.”

Official details surrounding the shooting remain scant as federal investigators continue combing over the scene.

“Immigrants are welcome here!” the crowd responded.

Political and community leaders are expected to speak to the crowd at the park later this afternoon.

As the crowd marched down Main Street and gathered outside Sen. Collins’ Biddeford office, about a dozen people made it inside the entryway, chanting “Vote her out!” and banging their fists on the office’s locked doors.

Staffers inside could be seen on the phone as the crowd grew. Minutes later, five Biddeford police officers pushed through the entryway and placed themselves between protestors and the door.

“This is your fault Susan!” one man shouted.

“You’re a fascist!” another person yelled at the officers.

The crowd dissipated and began marching back toward Mechanics Park after chanting at and heckling the officers.

Police did not answer questions about whether Collins’ staffers called 911 on protestors. 

“Over the past few months, the majority of immigration enforcement activity we have observed in Maine has involved ICE arrests of individuals who entered the United States lawfully on visas and who have sought lawful status by applying for asylum,” Roche said in a statement. “During this timeframe, Lewiston, Auburn, Portland, and Biddeford have been heavily targeted.”

Roche said recent enforcement by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been more frequently targeted detentions near people’s homes, “with many people taken just as they are leaving for or getting home from work.”

“We need to ask ourselves what aspects of the system need to change or be dismantled so that it never happens again,” Shah told a reporter. “I think (ICE) needs to be dismantled.”

King said during the phone call, which occurred 20 minutes before noon, Mullin told him that the man killed was in his 20s and had orders to leave the country. There was a warrant out for the man’s arrest and he was the target of the agents’ operation, said King.

King said Mullin told him that the ICE agents involved were not wearing body cameras, so there is no video evidence of what occurred during the incident. He said Mullin told him that body cameras were being distributed to ICE agents across the county. Apparently, the cameras had not made it to Biddeford yet, said King.

“I am concerned. They should have been having body cameras two years ago when this whole thing started,” said King.

King said the investigation should include the man’s actions with his vehicle and whether it justified the use of deadly force. According to Mullin, the man who was shot “weaponized his vehicle,” said King. If the actions were found to be unjustified, King said those who committed the shooting would be held accountable.

King said he also spoke with Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain, who shared King’s anxieties about state and local officials “frozen out” of the federal investigation.

“My belief is that our state and local officials should also be kept informed and engaged in the investigation,” said King.

“Given what’s happened around the country, we need to verify that this investigation will be thorough and transparent.”

Two police cruisers arrived within minutes. Two Biddeford police officers briefly went into the office before coming out to direct traffic around the crowd of people marching down Main Street.

She remembers hearing an older woman with a distressed family, yelling, “You took her dad, you took her dad!”

“They were with a little girl, she couldn’t have been older than three,” Humiston said. “She was still in her Bluey pajamas.”

Humiston described law enforcement as “rude,” and said they barricaded family’s car from leaving. Another yelled at the little girl, who was trying to smell flowers.

“This is Biddeford, things like this never happen here,” Humiston said.

“Our community is shaken by this incident. We are heartbroken that someone lost their life. We deserve answers about why lethal force was used and why an operation was being carried out in our streets,” Fecteau said. “I also know that our immigrant neighbors are particularly impacted by this violence. I want them to know that their elected leaders, their neighbors and their state is here for them.”

The organizations also encouraged community members to avoid active law enforcement scenes and continue to exercise caution as the investigation remains ongoing.

“People across Maine have already endured escalating detentions, aggressive enforcement activity, and the fear of being taken from their homes, workplaces, and families. Today, that escalation has ended in the loss of a young life,” the release read.

“He was a member of our community, a neighbor, and a human being whose life was cut tragically short. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, loved ones, and everyone now grieving this unimaginable loss,” the organizations said in a statement.

The organization said the shooting was not reported through MIRC’s Immigrant Defense hotline, but other ICE activity in the area had been.

“Our communities are hurting…” Mufalo Chitam, MIRC’s executive director, said. “Today, a 26-year-old member of our community is dead following an incident involving ICE. We are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable. How much more harm must our communities endure before those with the power to act acknowledge that this has gone too far?”

She instead directed a reporter to an ICE spokesperson, who has not responded to several requests for information Monday.

Maine State Police spokesperson Shannon Moss said the state agency is assisting in the investigation with the attorney general’s office. Rebecca Stefansky, who works at the Maine attorney general’s office, said earlier Monday afternoon that she cannot share information about the investigation at this time.

“In order for the investigation to be fair and transparent and believable, it needs to be more than just federal authorities involved.”

Ingwersen said he has worked with families over the past nine months to post bond and get released from immigration custody.

Delilah Poupore, director of Heart of Biddeford, a community organization, said the organization is “deeply saddened” and expects a full, transparent explanation of what happened.

“Biddeford will stick together as we continue to face the impact of ICE in Maine,” Poupore said.

Ward 5 Councilor David Kurtz was on his way to a protest at Mechanics Park late Monday morning.

“God help us all,” he said.

Phipps works with the immigrant community in York County. She ran in the democratic primary for Senate District 135 and lost, but she said she felt it was important to make sure the community remembers the victim with the same fervor as victims like Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

The high-profile January deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both in Minnesota, led to protests across the country, including in Maine.

The most recent death came on July 7 in Houston, when 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by federal agents as he was driving a construction crew to a worksite.

In addition to the fatal shootings, a recent report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights detailed the deaths of 52 people in ICE custody during the first 500 days of Trump’s second administration.

“Our team is monitoring this situation very closely and will provided updates as we learn more,” former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, who was expected to attend a demonstration in Biddeford later Monday, tweeted. “My heart is with Biddeford – and with all Mainers.”

“The Maine Solidarity Fund has been providing direct assistance to Maine’s Black and Brown immigrant communities as they face arrest, detention, and deportation from ICE,” former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah wrote in a post. “If you can, please consider giving in support of their work today: mainesolidarity.org.”

“History teaches us what happens when governments empower armed agents to operate with sweeping authority, limited transparency and too little accountability,” social worker Paige Loud posted.

“ICE is dangerously out of control and embarrassment to our country,” former Capitol Hill staffer Jordan Wood said. “Abolish it and replace it with an agency that answers to the people.”

“In the Senate, I’ll vote to hold ICE accountable and finally provide accountability for murdering people,” Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban said. “This s*** has to stop.”

“I’ve seen them in their tinted black Camaros, circling the bus stop and looking for people,” said another neighbor who asked not to be named.

“ICE has shown it cannot operate in our communities without harm,” he said. “It’s time to #AbolishICE and build something that treats every person with dignity.”

In a separate social media post, District 2 Councilor Wes Pelletier said, “We must destroy the deportation machine and prosecute everyone involved.”

According to the statement, Biddeford Police’s only involvement in the ongoing investigation is scene security.

“Next door to me is a bus stop for all ages of kids,” she said. “They’re absolutely terrified, and the parents are terrified too.”

The couple has called the ICE hotline four or five times since February. They were initially proud to hear that Biddeford Police were not going to work with ICE, but now are disappointed in their community leaders for not doing more to prevent incidents like this.

“There are no words to express the tumult of emotion that I feel” Bullock said, tearfully.

“He said, ‘I tried to stop,’” Boucher said hours after the shooting.

Another witness who lives near the intersection said she initially thought the shots were from a drive-by shooting, but then saw agents in vests trying to stop an out-of-control car.

“I don’t know who this man was, but he didn’t deserve to be executed in the street,” said Em, who asked to be identified only by her first name because she fears ICE.

However, the department did notify parents that “out of an abundance of caution” it would not visit Clifford Park as scheduled. The park is located off Pool Street.

Reporters have been taking phone calls and recording packages for televised news segments, waiting for a briefing to begin, but so far no officials have showed up. The general consensus is: No one is leaving until they get more information.

“I am so deeply disturbed and angry,” Pingree, whose 1st District covers Biddeford and southern Maine, said. “I, of course, need to know all of the answers here.”

She rattled off questions she has, including whether officers were pursuing someone with a criminal record, if it was a traffic stop, if the officers were wearing body cameras and why the person was shot.

“More than anything else, I want to know, why are you in Maine?” Pingree said, directing that to ICE agents. “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?”

Spokespeople for U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, the lone Republican in the delegation, and Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, acknowledged a reporter’s message Monday morning but had not yet shared comments from Maine’s senators.

The same was true for U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat whose 2nd District does not include Biddeford but rather the northern half of Maine.

“We aren’t weighing in (until) more information is available,” a King spokesperson texted a Press Herald reporter.

“It’s really sad,” Malloch added.

Andrew McCormack, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maine, said the office is aware that the FBI is on scene but declined to provide further details.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Maine Attorney General said information will be shared “when timing is appropriate.”

As he turned to look at the commotion, Scott said he saw an agent with their weapon drawn, yelling at a driver who appeared to move their vehicle toward the officer.

“The car was put into drive and was trying to hit the ICE officer,” Scott said.

The agent then fired about four shots, Scott said.

“I just heard the popping, but I did see him draw his gun,” Scott said.