Maine Sen. Angus King talks about fatal shooting of a man by federal agents

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Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Maine Sen. Angus King talks about fatal shooting of a man by federal agents Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, reacts to the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old Colombian man by federal law enforcement in Biddeford, Maine, Monday morning. National Maine Sen. Angus King talks about fatal shooting of a man by federal agents July 14, 20267:25 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition Michel Martin Maine Sen. Angus King talks about fatal shooting of a man by federal agents Listen &middot; 5:07 5:07 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5891784/nx-s1-9847364" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, reacts to the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old Colombian man by federal law enforcement in Biddeford, Maine, Monday morning. Sponsor Message Transcript MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: I'm joined now by U.S. Senator Angus King of Maine. He is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, and he's nice enough to join us in our studios here in Washington. Good morning, Senator. Thanks for coming in. ANGUS KING: Good morning, Michel. Really glad to be with you to talk about this important story. MARTIN: So as we just heard, you said yesterday that DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told you that the man killed was not the intended target of a warrant, but he allegedly weaponized his car against the officers. Then DHS put out a statement saying he was trying to get away and that this posed a threat to public safety. Now, this seems like a changing justification. How does it strike you? KING: Well, it strikes me the same way. When I read that statement last night, I said, that's pretty vague. Instead of, the officer was in fear of his life, he was - he assessed there was a threat to public safety. You don't shoot into cars. Police officers are trained all over the country to not shoot into automobiles unless there is an imminent threat to themselves or to public safety - if there's someone in the line of that car who could be injured. This is a very vague allegation that was in the statement from DHS last night. And that's why we need a true independent, transparent investigation, not strictly by the federal authorities. The problem is, Michel, the federal authorities have very little credibility now. After what happened in Minneapolis, the public is not going to accept a - an investigation conducted by the FBI or by DHS. There's got to be the involvement of our local officials - our state police, our attorney general's office - just as there would be with any discharge of a firearm by a police officer. MARTIN: How confident are you that that is going to happen - you're going to get the kind of transparency and independence that you're looking for? KING: Well, history has indicated I shouldn't have that great confidence. But I originally called Secretary Mullin last night, and my message was very clear. This has to be a clear and transparent investigation, and I think we're going to keep that pressure on. I don't know how they can avoid that at this point because they know they're under the microscope here. MARTIN: But what lever do you have to assure that? I mean, the fact of the matter is the president's One Big Beautiful Bill and the subsequent discussions of - the subsequent negotiations didn't yield any real... KING: Well... MARTIN: ...Limits on ICE's conduct. KING: And... MARTIN: So... KING: That's the real frustration. I mean, I myself voted against funding ICE - I don't know - five, 10 times, over and over, over the past six months. And my colleagues, my Republican colleagues in the Senate and the White House stoutly refused any safeguards - no masks, badges, identifications, body cameras. Now, ICE has said that they're going to be deploying body cameras. They sure as hell didn't get to Biddeford, because there's no body-camera footage involved in this case. So those reforms are really common sense. All I have been asking for these months, and I had actually met with the White House on this, is simply apply the standards to ICE that are applied to the local police force in Miami or New York or San Francisco or Denver. MARTIN: Is it - if it - if the idea here is that there really isn't any legal means to pressure ICE to offer to share information to allow local authorities to participate in this investigation, is your main argument here public pressure, public scrutiny is going to cause them to give you the answers that you seek and that the community clearly wants? KING: Well, certainly, they have to be responsive. But here's the other problem, Michel. It has escaped a lot of public notice. A few weeks ago or a few months ago, this Republican majority funded ICE for the remainder of Donald Trump's term, so there's not even the power of the purse in this situation. They've already been forward-funded, which I've never seen before in my experience in Congress, where they are literally unaccountable. So public pressure, pressure from members of Congress like myself and others, have to - has to be the - has to be maintained. And I believe that they understand they can't just slough this off the way they did in Minnesota. MARTIN: If it - if - we only have about a minute left here. But if it is the case that this officer used force in a manner that was inappropriate, do you have any expectation or thought that he could be prosecuted for that? KING: I think that's absolutely got to be the case. If the officer acted beyond his authority and in a situation where he did not have a reasonable fear of imminent injury or death, I think that's got to be... MARTIN: And who would do that? KING: ...On the table. MARTIN: Who would do that? KING: Well, it could be the state. They will argue that there's federal immunity and that kind of things. But that's why I think it's important that the state of Maine attorney general's involved, our state police are involved. Final point is, Michel, why is ICE there in the first place? They arrested over 200 people in Maine last winter. Nineteen of them had criminal records. This isn't about the worst of the worst. The whole premise of this thing is phony. They shouldn't have been there in the first place. MARTIN: That is Angus King. He's a United States senator. He's an independent from Maine. He caucuses with the Democrats. Senator King, thank you for joining us. KING: Thank you, Michel. Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. 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