Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday called for accountability after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents fatally shot a Colombian national in Maine, who authorities stated attempted to run over officers with a vehicle. The incident marks the second time in recent days that Harris has publicly criticized ICE following a deadly shooting involving the agency.
“Joan Sebastian Guerrero should still be alive,” Harris wrote on the social media platform X, referring to the 26-year-old man. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described Guerrero as an "illegal alien" who tried to flee the scene of an ICE operation in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday.
According to DHS, ICE officers were surveilling the last known address of an individual with a deportation order when Guerrero, who was not the subject of the operation, fled the home in a vehicle and refused to stop for federal officers. The agency stated that the vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, "fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon." Guerrero was struck and later died from his injuries.
A witness, 18-year-old Lucas Scott, told the Portland Press Herald that officers surrounded the car and drew their weapons. Scott added that the driver appeared to drive directly at the officers, prompting one agent to fire approximately four shots.
Guerrero, who was authorized to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number, according to the Portland-based aid organization Presente! Maine, was accompanied by his three-year-old daughter during the incident, Harris noted.
"This is the second time in a week that ICE agents have killed someone who — by their own admission — was not the subject of their operation,” Harris stated on X. “Now Sebastian is dead, his killing witnessed by his three-year-old daughter wearing her Bluey pajamas.”
Harris demanded an “immediate, independent, and transparent investigation” into the shooting death. “Anyone responsible for wrongdoing must be held accountable,” she added.
Last week, Harris criticized ICE in response to a fatal shooting in Houston. DHS claimed that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the victim in that incident, attempted to ram his vehicle into ICE officers during a traffic stop. Harris referred to the actions as “horrific and cruel” and called for an investigation, stating she was “outraged by the horrific and cruel actions of ICE under the Trump Administration.”
According to DHS, the Inspector General will investigate the Maine shooting. Protests have occurred in Maine following the incident.