ICE Officer in Maine Shooting Had History of Violence, Mental Health Struggles

David Brouillette was 37 years old when he shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian man, on a Monday afternoon near Durán Guerrero's home in Biddeford, Maine. The shooting occurred during an immigration enforcement operation. What followed was not just an investigation into the incident itself, but an examination of how a man with a documented history of severe mental illness, violence, and abuse allegations came to wear a federal badge and carry a gun.

Family members who spoke to reporters paint a portrait of someone who has struggled since childhood. Brouillette was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder as a young boy. At age 12, he attempted suicide twice and was hospitalized multiple times. An immediate relative described him as "extremely mentally ill." His first wife, Ashley Brouillette, whom he married in 2007 after they met in high school, said the violence began after she became pregnant with their daughter. He once threw boiling water at her while she was holding their child. When she left him in 2009, the abuse continued.

His second marriage produced more court records—hundreds of pages documenting allegations of physical and verbal abuse. His second ex-wife, whom the AP agreed not to name out of safety concerns, filed multiple requests for temporary protection orders on behalf of herself and their daughters. In court filings, she described him tackling his teenage daughter and smashing spaghetti in her hair during one outburst, and dragging another daughter around the house as she cried. She wrote that he needed counseling for PTSD and depression. A judge granted her protective order in 2021. Brouillette denied the allegations, claiming he had been slandered.

His oldest daughter, Madison, witnessed the volatility firsthand. She told reporters she came home from school once to find her father sitting on a tree stump with a gun to his head. "If you don't really, truly take care of yourself, there's no way you can protect other people," she said. "And with my dad, he never wanted to get help."

Brouillette had long dreamed of law enforcement and military service. High school yearbook photos show him in Naval Junior ROTC. Military recruiters initially rejected him because of his mental health diagnoses, but encouraged him to stop taking his medications for a year and reapply—which he did. He enlisted in the Maine Army National Guard in 2007 as a chemical equipment repairer, later switching to medical logistics specialist. In 2010, he joined the regular Army as a human intelligence collector. He deployed to Afghanistan from May 2012 to February 2013 and left as a sergeant in December 2015. A relative believes the deployment worsened his condition: "Afghanistan destroyed him—trained him to be a killing monster, a machine."

After discharge, Brouillette drifted through jobs. He worked at a medium-security prison, the state's Health and Human Services Department, and as a police officer at a Veterans Affairs medical center. He enrolled in a firefighting program at Southern Maine Community College but was struck in the head by a steel beam during training, sustaining a concussion and post-concussive syndrome that left him unable to complete the program. By late 2021, he was broke, attending school full-time, and delivering food for DoorDash. He collected disability pay from the VA and drove a truck until January 2025, when he quit citing health issues. In March 2025, he passed an exam to become a real estate agent. That same month, the Maine child support agency filed a lien against him.

In late 2025, around the time he joined ICE, Brouillette left a three-minute voicemail for his ex-wife Ashley. He mocked her for obtaining a restraining order and suggested that she and other women in her "bloodline" should die. "And all of you should have your throats cut," he said, adding that while he wasn't threatening to do it himself, he believed they should have had their throats cut. When his picture circulated online after the shooting, Ashley reached out to his current wife. Brouillette spoke with his ex-wife and acknowledged he had killed Durán Guerrero. He asked her to tell people he was a good person and not to discuss the abuse she had endured. He said the shooting was justified—that the man had tried to run him over with his car. His daughter Madison said the same thing: "I don't think he sees himself as a killer. I think he thinks that he genuinely did the right thing."

The Department of Homeland Security has not released Brouillette's name, saying only that "the vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon." When asked about his record and role in the shooting, ICE spokesperson Lauren Bis said the agency would "never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers" and noted that Brouillette had "nearly a decade of federal law enforcement experience with required training including use of force training." The White House referred all questions to ICE. At least ten people have died in encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched his immigration crackdown after retaking office. The vetting that allowed Brouillette to join that force—a man with a childhood diagnosis of severe bipolar disorder, multiple suicide attempts, documented abuse of women and children, recent threats of violence, and a relative who said he should never have been given a badge and gun—raises urgent questions about how thoroughly the Department of Homeland Security has screened recruits as it expanded its enforcement apparatus.