Maine attorney criticizes Vance’s remarks about Biddeford shooting
An attorney representing the family of a Colombian man fatally shot by a federal immigration agent in Biddeford is pushing back against comments Vice President JD Vance made about the case, calling them "completely disingenuous and purposefully misleading."
The attorney, Benjamin Gideon, issued a statement Tuesday responding to remarks Vance made the day before during a visit to Brewer. Vance, while speaking with reporters, accused Democrats of caring more about the Biddeford shooting than about fentanyl deaths in Maine, saying they "are far more worried about a shooting involving an illegal alien than they are about the fact that tens of thousands of Mainers died of fentanyl overdoses by that poison brought into our community."
Gideon challenged both the framing and the statistics. He noted that Durán Guerrero had been issued a federal work permit, was complying with immigration proceedings, and was the father of a 3-year-old girl. Gideon also pointed to state data showing that fatal drug overdoses in Maine have been declining this year, casting doubt on Vance's figure of "tens of thousands."
"The vice president's suggestion that killing Johan Sebastián was justified or acceptable as a cost of addressing the illicit fentanyl trade is completely disingenuous and purposefully misleading," Gideon said.
Durán Guerrero, 25, was killed in July by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. The shooting drew national attention and prompted a so-called "shadow hearing" organized by Democrats in Biddeford earlier this month to discuss what happened.
When asked Monday whether the Trump administration is investigating the shooting, Vance said yes. "Of course the Trump administration, our Department of Justice, everybody investigates this stuff," he said. "Because we want everybody — whether they're political friends or not — everybody has to follow the law in the United States of America."
He added: "My message to the Democrats who are so worried about that situation is to say: Have a little bit of perspective. We can absolutely investigate every shooting, and we will, but we can also secure our border and ensure that that poison stops coming into our country."
Gideon, however, said neither he nor his clients have been contacted by any federal investigators. He confirmed that the family has been in touch with the Office of the Maine Attorney General, which announced its own investigation into the shooting last month. According to Gideon, a state detective has interviewed both Durán Guerrero's partner and his sister.
A spokesperson for the attorney general's office said Tuesday that there were no updates to share. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the vice president's office did not respond to requests for comment.
DHS has declined to publicly identify the agent who fired the fatal shot, but several people familiar with him have identified him as David Brouillette, a deportation officer based in Manchester, New Hampshire. Brouillette is a former Maine law enforcement officer who had previously drawn scrutiny during a hiring process with a local police department. He has not responded to multiple requests for comment, and a phone number listed for him was out of service Tuesday afternoon.
According to reporting by CBS News, sources confirmed that the FBI is not conducting a civil rights investigation into Durán Guerrero's death. The New York Times also reported last month that agents were told the FBI would not be investigating claims of assault against DHS officers.
The case continues to unfold as the family awaits answers more than a month after the shooting, with state and federal review processes proceeding on separate tracks — and with the political backdrop growing more charged by the day.
