Fatal Maine shooting puts ICE vehicle stops under new scrutiny

A 26-year-old Colombian national was shot and killed Monday during an immigration enforcement operation in Biddeford, Maine, adding to scrutiny of federal officers’ use of deadly force during vehicle stops. The death comes amid a series of fatal shootings during the Trump administration’s deportation campaign, several involving people in cars.

The Embassy of Colombia identified the man as Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, according to the Associated Press. AP reported that some friends, neighbors and an advocacy group have spelled his first name as Joan.

The Department of Homeland Security said officers were watching an address linked to a person with a final order of removal when they tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone who had left that location, according to AP. DHS later said the vehicle tried to leave the scene and that an officer fired because of concerns for public safety.

Deaths linked to immigration operations

Durán Guerrero is the ninth person killed during immigration operations since the start of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, AP reported. At least four of those deaths involved vehicles, including a fatal shooting last week in Houston.

A person familiar with the matter told AP that administration officials have directed immigration officers to suspend most vehicle stops. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Tuesday that she urged DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to end non-urgent vehicle stops, according to AP.

Former ICE officials and policing experts told AP that vehicle stops create risks that can quickly escalate. John Sandweg, who served as acting ICE director during the Obama administration, said officers have other places to make arrests, including homes and workplaces.

John Gihon, an immigration lawyer who worked as an ICE attorney from 2008 to 2014, told AP that deportation officers were trained to let a person leave if they refused to exit a vehicle, then find them later. He said officers were not supposed to pull people out of cars or stand in front of vehicles.

Questions over official accounts

AP reported that federal officials have repeatedly said officers fired because vehicles posed a threat to officers or others. Policing experts have long warned that shooting into a moving car can create added danger if the driver is wounded or killed and loses control.

Geoffrey P. Alpert, a policing expert at the University of South Carolina, told AP that the pattern is troubling. He said many police departments began limiting or banning shots at moving vehicles decades ago because the vehicle can become a danger to anyone nearby if the driver can no longer control it.

In the Houston case, DHS said 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo ignored commands, tried to avoid arrest and attempted to ram an officer, according to AP. U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said she spoke separately with two men who were in the vehicle and that their accounts conflicted with the administration’s version. Garcia said the men told her officers were on the passenger side, not in front of the vehicle.

AP reported that officers were not wearing body cameras in either the Houston shooting or the Biddeford shooting, despite a DHS announcement months earlier that all officers would receive cameras. Without video, investigators must rely more heavily on witness statements, Alpert told AP.

Maine investigation begins

Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King said DHS Secretary Mullin told him the officer fired after Durán Guerrero tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers, AP reported. Hours later, DHS described the shooting in different terms, saying the vehicle attempted to flee and the officer fired out of concern for public safety.

King told CNN that an investigation should determine what happened. Maine’s Office of the Attorney General said it would investigate alongside federal authorities, pledged transparency and asked witnesses to come forward.

Hundreds of protesters gathered Tuesday near an ICE facility in Scarborough, Maine, according to AP. Demonstrators carried signs opposing ICE killings, and Democratic state Sen. Mattie Daughtry said the deaths in Maine, Minnesota and Texas showed the human cost of the crackdown.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.