Maine investigates fatal ICE shooting of Colombian man in Biddeford

State and federal authorities are investigating after an ICE Enforcement Removal Operations officer fatally shot a 26-year-old Colombian man near Pool Street in Biddeford on Monday morning, July 13, 2026. The Maine Attorney General’s Office said the officer was carrying out an enforcement operation tied to a final order of removal when the subject tried to flee in a vehicle and was shot. The FBI’s Boston field office responded to the scene immediately after the shooting.

The episode quickly raised new questions about how federal immigration agents are using force on Maine streets and whether the man killed was even the intended target. Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the man may not have been the target of the arrest warrant. NBC News reported that Mullin said the man was not the target of the warrant. WMTW reported that ICE said the man tried to flee in a vehicle as the officer fired, and that the white Kia involved was registered to Jonathan Ramirez of Biddeford.

The killing landed in a state that has already seen the reach of federal immigration enforcement reshape daily life. In January, more than 200 people were reported arrested in Maine during an ICE surge, and later analysis put the total at 190 arrests over five days in late January. That same period was estimated to have cost Maine retailers $3.4 million in taxable sales over 10 days in the Portland, Lewiston and Biddeford-Saco areas, a hit that deepened fear in immigrant neighborhoods and among local businesses that depend on them.

Those tensions were on display within hours of the shooting. Hundreds of protesters marched through Biddeford’s downtown after the fatal encounter, and organizers held a rally at Mechanics Park. A candlelight gathering followed that evening in Portland’s Monument Square, where residents gathered as the state weighed what happened on Pool Street and why federal agents were operating with lethal force in the first place.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office is investigating the shooting alongside federal authorities, with the incident now joining a broader political fight over ICE’s tactics, the standards that govern agent behavior, and the consequences when enforcement actions spill into city streets.