Widow remembers Colombian father killed by ICE in Maine

Karolina Rojas said her 3-year-old daughter still asks for her father every night, days after Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine.

Rojas, speaking publicly Thursday for the first time since the shooting, described Durán, 25, as a loving partner and hands-on father who dreamed of raising their child and growing old with her.

“My soul is broken; he was everything to me,” Rojas said, according to NBC News. She said the couple had been inseparable from the time they met and that Durán often told her they would stay together into old age.

Rojas appeared with Benjamin Gideon, the attorney representing Durán’s family. Gideon said the family wanted the public to know who Durán was beyond the circumstances of his death.

Durán was killed Monday in Biddeford, the small Maine city where he lived with Rojas and their daughter, NBC News reported. The shooting came less than a week after Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was fatally shot by ICE in Houston on July 7.

The Department of Homeland Security has said neither Durán nor Salgado was the intended target of ICE operations on the days they were killed, according to NBC News.

ICE says vehicle tried to flee

ICE said agents were carrying out “targeted surveillance” around 7 a.m. Monday at the last known address of a person described by the agency as an “illegal alien with a final order of removal,” according to an agency spokesperson cited by NBC News.

The spokesperson said a vehicle attempted to leave the scene and that an officer fired after fearing for public safety.

Gideon said Durán had not been accused of a crime before he was killed. The lawyer said Durán was in the United States lawfully and was taking part in a federal immigration process. Gideon also said Durán had been issued a work permit and Social Security number under the Trump administration.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told NBC News by email that Durán entered the United States illegally through the southern border nearly three years ago and was released into the country during the Biden administration.

Entering the United States without authorization is a misdemeanor, while remaining in the country without legal permission is a civil violation rather than a criminal offense, according to the American Immigration Council.

A father remembered at the park

Durán was born and raised in Bucaramanga, Colombia, and came to the United States in 2023 seeking better opportunities for himself and his family, relatives said.

Rojas said he worked cleaning and delivery jobs to support their household. She said he brought joy to people at work and in daily life.

At home, Rojas said, Durán was devoted to their daughter, Dulce, whom he affectionately called “gordita.” She said he took the child to the park every afternoon and often treated her to nuggets and fries when she wanted them.

Rojas said Durán would become emotional watching their daughter grow. She recalled a recent conversation in which they wondered what Dulce would become as she got older, and Durán said it would be hard for him to take her to school for the first time.

Rojas said she does not yet have the strength to tell her daughter that her father is not coming home.

Gideon said there would be a time to demand accountability for Durán’s death, but said Thursday was focused on remembering him as a person.

This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.