Biddeford 911 calls detail moments after fatal ICE shooting
Community members reflect at the memorial for Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero at the intersection in Biddeford where he was fatally shot in July. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)
Moments after Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was shot in Biddeford, one of the first people to call 911 reported hearing gunfire and someone yelling “shots fired.”
About two minutes later, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent reported the shooting to a dispatcher, confirming a Hispanic man was shot while the federal agency was “conducting an enforcement action” in the area.
Durán Guerrero, 25, from Colombia, was shot and killed by an ICE agent on the morning of July 13 while driving in a neighborhood where the agency was conducting targeted surveillance. Officials have said he was not the intended target of ICE’s operation.
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The quick response from emergency crews that morning and some chaos that unfolded afterward were documented in newly released transcripts of 911 calls. The Portland Press Herald obtained the calls through a public records request to the Office of the Maine Attorney General, which is investigating the shooting. The records include some minor redactions, appearing to protect personal information.
The transcripts show that the first 911 call came in around 7:18 a.m. Three people in the area reported hearing gunshots that morning — one of whom saw the killing.
“The guy was not moving,” one caller told the dispatcher around 7:21 a.m. “They pulled him out of the car with like four bullet holes in him. Bleeding all over the place.”
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Another person, who called just before 7:22 a.m., described getting distracted by the gunfire while driving and consequently hitting another car.
A series of calls that came in after 7:30 a.m. show people trying to learn more about the shooting and what happened to Durán Guerrero, including one person who asked the dispatcher to connect them with a Spanish interpreter.
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“She has one question. What happened to (redacted). … I would like to know about the situation,” the interpreter said.
“I am calling because of one of my employees just called me,” another caller said in a separate call. “She is in distress right now because (redacted) got shot by the ICE agents in Biddeford. … I am calling because she doesn’t speak English and … she wants to know where (redacted) been taken to, like which hospital.”
The dispatcher told both callers that they knew first responders were on scene but couldn’t give specific details about the shooting.
The state attorney general’s office and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General announced last month that they were conducting investigations into the shooting, which are ongoing. People who know the ICE agent who fired the shots identified him as 37-year-old David Brouillette of Manchester.
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Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Bolton, who responded to the Press Herald’s records request, said the office does not have any video footage leading up to or depicting the shooting.
ICE agents were not wearing operable body-worn cameras at the time of the killing, according to federal officials. Earlier this month, Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced that cameras had since been distributed to all ICE agents in Maine.
The Office of the Maine Attorney General has also declined to release any other documentation about the shooting, including police reports, citing the ongoing investigation.
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Tagged: biddeford ice shooting, biddeford maine, immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, maine crime
Morgan covers breaking news and public safety for the Portland Press Herald. Before moving to Maine in 2024, she reported for Michigan State University's student-run publication, as well as the Indianapolis. More by Morgan Womack
