Partner of man fatally shot by ICE agent in Maine speaks out: 'My daughter asks for Papa'
The partner of Johan Sebastián Guerrero, who was killed by an ICE agent during a traffic stop in Maine earlier this week, spoke out Thursday for the first time, sharing the pain she said her family is enduring.
Karolina Rojas held back tears as she talked at a news conference about her partner and father of their 3-year-old daughter, describing Guerrero as "a hard worker devoted to his family," who "always dreamed big."
"He always worked so that his 'Gordita,' as he called her, would never go without," Rojas said. "He wanted to be there for every step his Gordita took."
Rojas, who was being held up by Guerrero's sister during the news conference, said it's painful to talk about her partner's death with their daughter.
"That Monday afternoon was supposed to be her day with papa, but he never came home," she said Thursday. "And now my daughter asks for papa, and I don't have the strength to tell her that papa isn't coming, that she can't hug him anymore or tell him, 'Papi, I love you.'"
Guerrero, 25, was killed Monday in Biddeford, Maine, when ICE agents were conducting a traffic stop, according to Benjamin Gideon, the attorney representing his family, and Sen. Angus King. Guerrero was not the target of the ICE enforcement operation, King told reporters earlier this week.
An ICE spokesperson said that the agency was “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal," and when an “illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle,” ICE agents “attempted to conduct a vehicle stop.”
“The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon,” ICE said.
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday that Guerrero "illegally entered the United States on September 1, 2023, via the southern border." The DHS spokesperson said Guerrero was granted a work permit in May 2025.
Though it is unclear if Guerrero had a pending asylum case, in some instances, work permits are given to those with pending asylum claims while they are in the country.
"To be clear, work authorization does not confer legal status in the United States," the DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
Gideon, however, told reporters Thursday that Guerrero, a Colombian national, was in the country legally, had work permits, and "held jobs at multiple respectable national corporations."
Gideon said that Guerrero was on his way to work Monday before he was shot and there were no calls about any disturbance before the incident.
"It was a peaceful, tranquil summer morning in the state of Maine … and that tranquility was shattered by only one thing and that was the conduct of those federal agents," he said.
The officer involved in Monday's shooting was a newly sworn-in ICE officer, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation. The sources said the officer, who has not been identified, had previously been a law enforcement officer with the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2017.
The FBI is leading the investigation into the shooting. No charges have been issued as of Thursday.
Protesters and rallies have taken place in Maine since the incident, which happened less than a week after Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was fatally shot by an ICE officer during a traffic stop in Houston. Local elected leaders said Salgado was not the target of the ICE operation.
Elected officials in Maine, including Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, have called for transparency and an end to ICE operations within the state following the shooting.
"ICE needs to be fundamentally reformed, and if not, then it is time to abolish it," Mills wrote in a letter to the Maine congressional delegation Wednesday.
DHS had initially temporary paused vehicle stops in light of the Maine and Houston incidents, however, President Donald Trump later overturned the temporary pause.
In the meantime, Rojas said she feels "unprotected" by not having her partner in her life.
"My soul is broken. He was everything to me. He never let me worry about anything," she said.
-ABC News' Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
