Richard Blumenthal says Durán Guerrero was murdered
Richard BlumenthalU.S. senator from Connecticut and ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, co-hosting a congressional forum
Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Durán Guerrero was murdered. Speaking about fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in general, he also said state and local authorities had been blocked from investigating and that ICE had withheld and concealed evidence.
“State and local authorities have been stymied and stopped in their effort to investigate. ICE has withheld and concealed evidence. The failure to investigate is obvious and deeply wrong and shameful for the federal government. On July 7, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a father and husband, was shot and killed by ICE agents while on his way to work in Houston. And just five days later, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was murdered in Maine, leaving behind a wife and three-year-old daughter.”
Original video
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Was the ICE officer justified in fatally shooting Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero?
On July 13, 2026, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero during an attempted vehicle stop at Pool and Hill streets in Biddeford, Maine. ICE said Guerrero's vehicle attempted to flee and that the officer fired because he feared for public safety; Maine's initial account said the vehicle moved in the officer's direction. A nearby resident said he heard Guerrero say he had tried to stop and heard the officer say Guerrero tried to hit him. Security cameras recorded gunfire and portions of the aftermath but do not continuously show the vehicle's path at the moment of firing, and the agents reportedly lacked activated body cameras. The Associated Press and relatives identified the shooter as David Brouillette, though DHS has not confirmed his identity. In late September 2026, the Maine attorney general's office declined to comment on its investigation and had announced no finding. The dispute is whether Guerrero's vehicle posed an imminent threat when the officer fired.
Source and context
Original video
About this source
House Oversight Democrats' full recording (2:43:40) of the September 22, 2026 public forum in Washington on deaths in immigration enforcement, co-hosted by Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Robert Garcia. The quoted wording is our transcription of the audio, checked in independent passes.
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About this source
Boston Globe report on the September 22, 2026 forum co-hosted by Sen. Richard Blumenthal and on the investigations into Guerrero's death. It reports that a spokesperson for the Maine attorney general's office said the office could not comment on pending investigations.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Blumenthal co-hosted a September 22, 2026 forum in Washington with Rep. Robert Garcia, at which relatives and representatives of people killed by federal immigration agents, and a witness to one of the shootings, spoke. In his opening remarks he named those killed, including Durán Guerrero, and said promises that DHS would change after earlier deaths had proven false.
After the quotation
He then turned to a shooting by ICE in Austin, Texas, two days earlier and said the forum's hosts would keep demanding answers, accountability and change. Later in the forum, after Sean P. Murphy, an attorney for Durán Guerrero's family, said DHS had not identified the shooter or the agents who witnessed the shooting and had given the family no video or documents, Blumenthal called that stonewalling. His examples of evidence withheld from state authorities involved Minnesota and Texas.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether the officer was justified in shooting Durán Guerrero. Blumenthal called the death a murder, which rejects any justification for the shooting. The closest alternative, challenged the characterization, does not fit because he goes beyond disputing the official account.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
More from this case
Read the full caseKarolina Rojas Alvarez says her family wants justice
“No immigrant should be murdered in this way. On behalf of my husband's family, my daughter and myself we want justice.”Read statement
Sean Murphy calls for the ICE officer's prosecution
“The only justification given for Johan's death was that it was in the interest of public safety. You know what actually keeps the public safe? Not shooting innocent and law-abiding fathers whose only dream is to build a better life for his family.”Read statement
Benjamin Gideon rejects the flight justification
“Under our legal system and our Constitution, driving off is not a legal basis or justified basis for the use of lethal force.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Richard Blumenthal says Durán Guerrero was murdered". First published: 2026-10-01. Last updated: 2026-10-01. https://disputeindex.com/events/4056-sen-richard-blumenthal-said-dur%C3%A1n-guerrero-was-murdered