A federal immigration agent identified as the officer who shot a man in Biddeford last week is reportedly in protective government custody, according to new court records.
David Brouillette, 37, was identified less than two days after the shooting by his first ex-wife as the person who killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero on July 13. She told the Portland Press Herald that Brouillette had called her, admitting he was the shooter and asking her to lie for him if reporters called.
DHS has refused to release the name of the agent who shot Guerrero.
In a request for a protection from abuse order filed this week in Kennebec County, the biological father of Brouillette’s minor stepdaughter said that Brouillette called him on July 15 and said he was the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot and killed a man in Biddeford. In his request, the father also said Brouillette told him that he and his wife had received threats and were leaving their home to enter government protective custody.
In response to questions about whether Brouillette was in protective custody, a spokesperson for ICE said on Friday that the agency “will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers.”
“Publicizing their identities puts their lives and the lives of their families at serious risk,” the agency wrote.
The Portland Press Herald is not identifying the father, who could not be immediately reached on Friday, because of the involvement of his minor child. In his request, the father asked a judge to give him temporary full custody of his daughter out of fear for her safety, “both because of the threats now directed at (Brouillette) and anyone near him, and because of what I have since learned about his history of violence.”
He added that, last week, the girl’s mother had already allowed him to take their daughter, who is currently staying with him.
A district court judge on Thursday denied the request for an immediate protection order, citing rules of evidence that prevent hearsay. Much of the father’s request relied on news reports, quoting interviews and court records describing Brouillette’s reported history of violence against two ex-wives and one of Brouillette’s daughters.
A phone number for Brouillette was not in service when a reporter tried to call on Friday. He has previously not responded to several requests for comment.
Since the shooting, two of Brouillette’s ex-wives have publicly described a history of domestic abuse. His first wife, Ashley Brouillette, said he threw boiling water at her while she was holding their young daughter. Ashley Brouillette also shared a voicemail recording with the Press Herald that she said was from Brouillette, and in which he said he thought her throat should be cut.
David Brouillette’s second ex-wife, Lucinda Brouillette, has also filed at least four requests for protection from abuse and harassment orders to be issued against him. Lucinda Brouillette has said in court records that he kicked down her door, shared intimate videos of her with others and that Brouillette’s daughter once told her he had dragged her from her bed and smeared spaghetti in her hair.
Brouillette has filed four of his own requests for protection orders against Lucinda Brouillette, and he has raised similar allegations of harassment against both women in court records.
In his request this week, the father said he was worried because David Brouillette “keeps a number of firearms in the home where my daughter stays” and he said that Brouillette admitted to him that he “discharged his firearm and killed a person.”
The father said in his request that his daughter has described Brouillette, who she has lived with half of the time for about five years, as “weird.”
“I am genuinely afraid for my daughter’s physical safety if she is in the Defendant’s presence or household,” he wrote.
DHS has previously declined to confirm Brouillette’s employment. The Press Herald has obtained records that show Brouillette was working as an ICE agent in Maine in recent months.
Both the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General and the Office of the Maine Attorney General are investigating the shooting. Both have repeatedly declined to comment on the investigations. Earlier this week, an attorney for Guerrero’s family characterized the state’s review as a criminal investigation and said that his clients are hoping Brouillette will face criminal charges.
Staff writers Jake Freudberg and Morgan Womack contributed to this report.