ICE officer fatally shoots man during Biddeford enforcement operation
Witnesses heard at least four shots at Pool and Hill streets as a white Kia stopped with bullet holes and a man bled from the head. Maine opened a deadly-force probe.
An ICE enforcement operation ended with a fatal shooting at the intersection of Pool and Hill streets in Biddeford, where witnesses described a white Kia sedan with bullet holes in the windshield and a man lying on the ground bleeding from the head. The Maine Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation into the fatal use of deadly force and said Biddeford, Saco and Maine State Police are assisting.
Authorities said the incident unfolded Monday morning, July 13, 2026, during an enforcement operation tied to a final order of removal. The Department of Homeland Security said ICE officers were carrying out the operation when the driver tried to flee in a vehicle. DHS said the officer fired after fearing for public safety. The state attorney general’s office said the federal operation was under investigation and urged residents to remain peaceful and follow directions from law enforcement.
Witnesses in Biddeford described hearing at least four gunshots. One witness told local reporters he believed he watched the man die. Others said the scene was chaotic, with police and emergency responders converging on the intersection soon after the shots. The white Kia remained a central detail in witness accounts, with visible damage to its windshield.
The man killed in the shooting was reported to be a 26-year-old from Colombia. Several reports said he was not the intended target of the operation. Maine Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the man was the subject of an arrest warrant connected to a removal order, adding another layer of confusion around who agents were seeking at the scene and whether the person killed matched the target of the operation.
The case has drawn scrutiny because the use of force ended in a death during a vehicle encounter, and because the state inquiry now sits alongside federal law enforcement’s account of the operation. The Associated Press reported the Biddeford shooting was the second fatal ICE encounter in a week involving a person in a vehicle. That detail has sharpened attention on how federal officers are using force during immigration enforcement and what standards govern those split-second decisions.
Public reaction followed quickly. Protests and vigils formed in Biddeford and Portland on the same day, with hundreds gathering in some locations. At Mechanics Park and Monument Square, residents carried anti-ICE signs and expressed grief and anger as the investigation moved to the Maine Attorney General’s Office, where officials are now expected to sort out the sequence of events, witness accounts and the basis for the decision to shoot.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
