Family mourns Colombian father shot dead by ICE in Maine

Karolina Rojas said she wants her husband, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, remembered the right way after an ICE officer fatally shot him in Biddeford, Maine. The 26-year-old Colombian father was working to give his daughter a stable life, NBC News reported, and was remembered by loved ones as a devoted family man “with many dreams to fulfill.” A simple memorial of flowers and candles later appeared near the spot on a Maine street where he was killed.

ICE has said Durán Guerrero tried to flee and used his vehicle as a weapon, framing the shooting as a self-defense response. That account is now central to the public dispute over what happened in Biddeford on Monday morning, when a federal immigration agent shot and killed a man in a car. Maine immigrant advocacy groups said the man was a 26-year-old from Colombia who had work authorization, and DHS later confirmed he had received work authorization in May 2025, while stressing that work authorization does not by itself confer legal status.

The killing prompted immediate backlash in Biddeford, where protests followed and a candlelight memorial service was held at Mechanics Park on July 13. Photos and witness accounts showed people gathering around flowers and candles near the shooting site, turning the street into an impromptu vigil for a father whose family says was trying to build a stable future in the United States.

The shooting also reverberated far beyond Maine. The New York Times reported that the next day the Trump administration ordered ICE to halt most vehicle stops, a step that came after two deadly shootings in less than a week and put new pressure on the agency’s use-of-force practices. The pause underscored how quickly a single death in Biddeford became part of a larger national fight over immigration enforcement, accountability and how much force federal officers should use during vehicle stops.

For Rojas and Durán Guerrero’s family, the debate is inseparable from grief. For ICE, it is a test of the agency’s explanation for why an armed federal officer opened fire on a father in a car in a Maine neighborhood.