In Biddeford, Maine, a 25-year-old Colombian man named Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was fatally shot by an ICE officer whose own family says should never have carried a badge. The officer, David Brouillette, carried with him a long trail of documented mental illness, domestic violence, and threatening behavior — a history that raises enduring questions about what institutions choose to see, and what they choose to overlook, when arming men with authority. His story is not only one of individual failure, but of systemic choices made during a period of rapid, politically driven enforcement exp
ICE Officer in Maine Shooting Has Documented History of Violence, Family Says
Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national, was fatally shot by Brouillette on Monday near his home in Biddeford, Maine.
They took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a killing machine.
Mark
How did someone with this documented history pass a federal background check?
Mimi
That's the central question no one has answered yet. His relatives say recruiters encouraged him to go off his psychiatric medications to join the military. There's no indication DHS looked closely at family court records or the voicemail threats. The vetting appears to have been thin.
Mark
Did his family try to warn anyone before the shooting?
Mimi
They tried. His ex-wife took out a restraining order. His second ex-wife filed multiple protection orders on behalf of their daughters. But those are state-level documents. There's no evidence they reached federal hiring officials.
Mark
What does Brouillette himself say happened that day?
Mimi
He claims self-defense. He told his ex-wife the Colombian man was trying to run him over with a car. He says he did what he had to do to protect himself. But we only have his account and DHS's statement about fearing for public safety. No independent investigation details have been released.
Mark
His family seems to blame the military for changing him.
Mimi
They do. A relative said Afghanistan "destroyed him"—that the Army took someone already extremely mentally ill and trained him to be a killing machine. Whether that's accurate or not, it points to a larger failure: no one seems to have checked whether his condition worsened after deployment.
Mark
What happens to him now?
Mimi
He's in protective custody, according to what he told his ex-wife. There will likely be an investigation, but DHS hasn't even confirmed his identity publicly. His family is speaking out because they believe the system failed—and that it failed Durán Guerrero most of all.
The Pulse
- A 25-year-old Colombian man is dead, shot by a federal officer in a car near his home in Maine — and the officer's own family is speaking out against him.
- Court records, ex-wives, and relatives paint a portrait of a man with lifelong untreated mental illness, a history of physical abuse toward women and children, and at least two childhood suicide attempts.
- Military recruiters once rejected Brouillette for his diagnoses, then told him to stop taking his medication and reapply — a pattern of institutions bending their own safeguards to let him through.
- DHS has not named Brouillette, has not released details of the shooting, and has not answered how he passed federal vetting — even as at least ten people have now died in immigration enforcement encounters since the crackdown began.
- Brouillette himself called his first ex-wife after the shooting, asked her to tell people he was a good person, and said his character was what mattered now — while she had a voicemail of him saying the women in her bloodline should have their throats cut.
In Biddeford, Maine, a 25-year-old Colombian man named Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was fatally shot by an ICE officer whose own family says should never have carried a badge. The officer, David Brouillette, carried with him a long trail of documented mental illness, domestic violence, and threatening behavior — a history that raises enduring questions about what institutions choose to see, and what they choose to overlook, when arming men with authority. His story is not only one of individual failure, but of systemic choices made during a period of rapid, politically driven enforcement expansion, where urgency may have displaced scrutiny.
David Brouillette was 37 years old when he shot Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero near Biddeford, Maine. The Department of Homeland Security has not released his name. His family has — and they say he should never have been given a badge.
Brouillette's relatives describe a childhood defined by untreated mental illness: manic bipolar disorder, ADHD, multiple hospitalizations, and suicide attempts beginning at age twelve. His first ex-wife left him in 2009 after he became physically violent while she was pregnant. His second ex-wife filed for protection orders alleging years of stalking and abuse — incidents documented across hundreds of pages of court records. His oldest daughter once came home to find him 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 told the Associated Press. 'And with my dad, he never wanted to get help.'
Military recruiters initially rejected him because of his diagnoses, then encouraged him to stop taking his medications for a year and reapply. He did. He served in the Army, deployed to Afghanistan, and left as a sergeant in 2015. A relative believes the deployment worsened him: 'They took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a killing machine.'
He joined ICE in late 2025. His first ex-wife didn't believe him when he told her — she thought he was having an episode. She only understood it was real when videos of the shooting began circulating online.
In a voicemail she shared with the AP, recorded before the shooting, Brouillette told her that she and the women in her bloodline 'should have their fucking throats cut.' After the shooting, he called her through his current wife's phone. He said the shooting was justified. He asked her to tell people he was a good person. He said his character was what mattered now.
DHS has said only that the vehicle attempted to flee and that an officer discharged his weapon fearing for public safety. At least ten people have died in encounters with immigration agents since the current enforcement surge began. How thoroughly federal agencies vetted their recruits during that expansion remains, for now, unanswered.
David Brouillette was 37 years old when he shot Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian man, in a car near Biddeford, Maine on a Monday afternoon this week. The Department of Homeland Security has not released Brouillette's name, but his family has. They say he should never have been given a badge and a gun.
Brouillette's relatives describe a man shaped by untreated mental illness from childhood—diagnosed with manic bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder, hospitalized multiple times, suicidal at age twelve. His first ex-wife, Ashley, married him in 2007 after they met in high school. She left him in 2009 after he became physically violent with her while she was pregnant with their daughter. She remembers him throwing boiling water at her while she held their child. His second ex-wife filed for temporary protection orders on behalf of herself and their daughters, alleging years of stalking, harassment, and physical abuse. In one incident, he tackled his teenage daughter and smashed spaghetti in her hair. In another, he dragged her through the house as she cried. Court records from Augusta District Court detail these allegations across hundreds of pages. Brouillette denied the claims, saying his ex-wife had slandered him.
His oldest daughter, Madison, told the Associated Press that she came home from school once to find her father sitting on a tree stump with a gun to his head. She watched him struggle with things he refused to address. "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." A close relative, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Brouillette had attempted suicide twice as a child and described him as "extremely mentally ill."
Brouillette grew up in Gardiner, Maine, about sixty miles northwest of Biddeford, enchanted by law enforcement and the military. 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. He did. He enlisted in the Maine Army National Guard in 2007 as a chemical equipment repairer, then switched to medical logistics specialist. In January 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 Afghanistan worsened his condition: "They took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a killing machine."
After leaving the Army, Brouillette passed a real estate licensing exam in March 2025 and briefly worked for Realty of Maine before that license expired in December. Around the same time he joined ICE—late 2025, according to his ex-wife Ashley. She said she didn't believe him when he told her. She thought he was having a mental health episode. She didn't realize he was serious until videos of the shooting began circulating online this week.
In late 2025, before the shooting, Brouillette left Ashley a three-minute voicemail. He mocked her for taking out a restraining order against him. He called her "disgusting" and suggested that she and the other women and girls in her "bloodline" should die. "And all of you should have your fucking throats cut," he said in the message she shared with the AP. "Yeah, you should. Am I threatening that I'm gonna do that? Nope. Nope. But do I think that you should have your fucking throats cut? Or should have had them cut? Yep." She cut off contact with him until Wednesday, when his picture began circulating online.
When she reached out to his current wife on Facebook, Brouillette got on the phone. He acknowledged he had shot Durán Guerrero. He told Ashley it was a justified shooting—the man was trying to run him over with a car. He asked her to tell people he was a good person, to say nothing about the abuse. He said his character was what mattered now. He told her he is hiding in protective custody. The Department of Homeland Security has not released details about the shooting beyond saying the vehicle attempted to flee and an officer discharged his weapon fearing for public safety. An ICE spokesperson said Brouillette has nearly a decade of federal law enforcement experience and required training in use of force. At least ten people have died in encounters with immigration agents since Trump's crackdown began. The question of how thoroughly DHS vetted its recruits during the hiring surge remains unanswered.
Notable Quotes
If you don't really, truly take care of yourself, there's no way you can protect other people. And with my dad, he never wanted to get help.— Madison Brouillette, Brouillette's daughter
He was asking if I could tell them that he was a good person and not to talk about the abuse and stuff that I had endured well with him and he said that the most important thing is his character right now.— Ashley Brouillette, Brouillette's ex-wife, describing his post-shooting phone call
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