The most serious claim so far about the Biddeford ICE shooting is that the young Colombian father who died was not even the man federal agents came there to arrest.
Story Snapshot
- Homeland Security’s own secretary told a U.S. senator the victim was not the warrant target.
- The only detailed “not the target” account comes through Senator Angus King, not a written federal record.
- Agents say the driver tried to weaponize his car during a deportation operation gone wrong.
- The case fits a growing pattern of deadly immigration raids where officials later admit mistaken identity.
A federal raid, a dead driver, and a sudden change in the story
Federal immigration officers arrived in Biddeford, Maine, just after sunrise to serve a deportation order on someone they described as an illegal immigrant with a final removal order. Officials say an individual left the home, got into a car, and tried to flee when agents moved in to stop the vehicle.
At that point, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers claim the driver headed in the officer’s direction, and one agent fired, killing him in the street. That was the simple story at first: a dangerous suspect used his car as a weapon and paid with his life.
By mid-day, the picture grew more complicated. Maine immigrant advocacy groups publicly named the victim as a 26-year-old Colombian man with legal permission to work in the United States and a Social Security number. He was described as a young father, not a wanted gang member or fugitive.
State officials said the officer had been placed on leave, and the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, together with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, took over the investigation. Then late in the day, a stunning detail surfaced: the man who died was not the person agents had set out to arrest.
How the “wrong man” claim entered the official record
Senator Angus King, the independent senator from Maine, became the key voice on what Homeland Security was saying behind closed doors. Speaking first to the press, King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the victim had “weaponized” his car before the shooting. That matched the public talking points about a driver using a vehicle as a weapon.
Hours later, King’s spokesman delivered a very different message to Maine Public: Mullin had called back and told King the victim “was not the target of the warrant.” Fox7Austin and other outlets quickly picked up that line, reporting it as a direct relay of what Mullin told King.
The person killed by ICE officers in a Maine shooting Monday was not the target of the warrant the officers were executing, Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Mullin told him. pic.twitter.com/wVwltUUul2
— Boston 25 News (@boston25) July 13, 2026
So far, that single conversation is the backbone of the “wrong man” narrative. There is no written press release from the Department of Homeland Security spelling out that the victim was not the intended target. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokespeople have stayed mostly silent, repeating only that the man tried to flee in a car.
No warrant document has been released naming the actual target, and no agent has testified in public about the mistake. The claim rests on Senator King’s account of what Mullin told him, plus separate social posts from Maine Representative Chellie Pingree saying they “just learned” the person killed was not the target.
The pattern: mistaken identity and changing stories
This Biddeford case does not stand alone. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shootings have drawn fire before for fast, forceful official claims that later clash with evidence. A Reuters review of six violent encounters found federal immigration officials repeatedly described drivers as turning vehicles into weapons, only for later investigations to show major gaps or outright mistakes in those early stories.
In Minneapolis, agents shot a Venezuelan immigrant after a traffic stop that did not even involve the man they eventually wounded; the Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit openly blamed mistaken identity.
A vigil was held to remember the life of a young father who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Biddeford. The shooting also sparked protests.
DETAILS: https://t.co/20cou9NYrR pic.twitter.com/VHwobhbUM2
— CBS 13 News (@WGME) July 14, 2026
Less than a week before the Maine shooting, immigration officers in Houston killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop. Officials later admitted he was not the person they were targeting in that operation. That admission fed a rising sense on the right and left that federal agents were exercising too much armed power with too little accountability.
A Senate report titled “Unchecked Authority” documented federal immigration officers fabricating claims that suspects tried to assault them, reinforcing fears that “he weaponized the vehicle” might sometimes be a script rather than a fact.
What common sense demands now
From a common-sense view, the core problem is not that federal agents enforce immigration law. The problem comes when government power, guns, and secrecy mix and nobody can clearly say who was supposed to be arrested or why a father ended up dead. Immigration and Customs Enforcement insists the driver turned the car into a weapon.
Homeland Security’s top official quietly tells a senator the dead man was not the target. Yet there is no body camera video, no released warrant, and no public testimony to back either claim.
Real accountability here would mean simple things. First, release the actual warrant that shows who agents meant to arrest. Second, release any nearby surveillance video and the internal incident report once the Federal Bureau of Investigation review is complete. Third, put the shooting officer under oath, whether in court or in Congress, to explain the split-second decision and the identification process.
For many Americans, especially those wary of big federal power, the worst outcome would be letting another fatal mistake vanish into a quiet file drawer in Washington while the story changes by phone call instead of by evidence.
Sources:
abcnews.com, mainepublic.org, facebook.com, hsgac.senate.gov, reuters.com, youtube.com
