The ICE officer who killed a person in Maine has a violent historical past, household and information say
Native Information
David Brouillette’s troubling previous additional challenges how totally the Division of Homeland Safety has vetted recruits because it went on a hiring spree to assist perform President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — When David Brouillette informed his ex-wife Ashley late final yr that he had joined Immigration and Customs Enforcement, she didn’t imagine him. Her ex-husband was abusive, had an extended historical past of psychiatric points and by no means ought to have been given a badge and a gun, she and different family of his informed The Related Press.
Ashley Brouillette didn’t notice he’d been telling the reality till this week, when movies started circulating on-line of the moments surrounding the capturing of a 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero by an ICE officer within the coastal Maine metropolis of Biddeford.
She informed the AP that she spoke to her ex-husband in a Fb audio name, and he acknowledged that he had killed Durán Guerrero. Their 18-year-old daughter, Madison Brouillette, additionally informed the AP that her father known as her Wednesday and stated that he killed him.
David Brouillette’s troubling previous additional challenges how totally the Division of Homeland Safety has vetted recruits because it went on a hiring spree to assist perform President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. At the very least 10 individuals have died in encounters with immigration brokers since Trump launched the crackdown after beginning his second time period.
DHS, which oversees ICE and hasn’t launched the title of the officer who killed Durán Guerrero, has stated the “automobile tried to flee the scene and, fearing for public security, an officer discharged his weapon.”
When reached for remark about Brouillette’s file and his position in Monday’s capturing, an ICE spokesperson stated in an announcement that, “We’ll by no means affirm or deny makes an attempt to dox our regulation enforcement officers,” and that “The ICE officer in query has almost a decade of federal regulation enforcement expertise with required coaching together with use of pressure coaching.”
Brouillette, 37, didn’t reply to textual content messages or an e mail looking for remark. Three family who stated that they had spoken to him because the capturing, together with Ashley and Madison Brouillette, stated he informed them he acted in self-defense.
The White Home referred all questions in regards to the capturing and Brouillette to ICE.
A brand new profession in ICE
David and Ashley Brouillette have been highschool sweethearts who married in 2007 however divorced two years later. She stated he grew to become violent together with her after she bought pregnant, and that the abuse continued after she left him.
David Brouillette doesn’t seem to have a felony file in Maine, as a verify with the Maine Division of Public Security returned no information for him.
However a whole lot of household courtroom information obtained from the Augusta District Court docket clerk’s workplace element years of allegations of bodily and verbal abuse raised by his second ex-wife on behalf of herself and his daughters.
The second ex-wife — whom the AP is just not figuring out as a result of she fears retaliation — alleged that he had stalked and harassed her and bodily and verbally abused his daughter, in accordance with a number of requests for momentary safety orders.
“Dave wants counseling or one thing for his PTSD & melancholy,” she wrote in an utility for a short lived protecting order on behalf of his teenage daughter which a choose granted in 2021.
In courtroom filings, David Brouillette stated that his second ex-wife had slandered him.
Madison Brouillette stated she additionally witnessed her dad’s volatility, together with when she got here dwelling from faculty as soon as and he informed her he had been sitting on a tree stump with a gun to his head.
A right away relative of David Brouillette who spoke on the situation that their title not be used stated he was identified with extreme bipolar dysfunction and a spotlight deficit dysfunction as a toddler — a analysis that Ashley Brouillette confirmed. The instant relative described him as “extraordinarily mentally unwell” and stated he tried suicide twice at age 12 and was hospitalized a number of instances.
The relative stated they’ve been estranged for years, after they broke off contact as a result of they feared he would hurt them. He didn’t reply to their outreach this week, the relative added.
A army deployment and regulation enforcement aspirations
Rising up in Gardiner, a metropolis of about 6,000 individuals roughly 60 miles (97 kilometers) northeast of Biddeford, the place Monday’s capturing occurred, David Brouillette was enchanted by regulation enforcement and the army, his family stated.
Brouillette was initially rejected by army recruiters due to his psychological well being diagnoses, however recruiters inspired him to go off his drugs for a yr and reapply, which he did, his instant relative stated. He was ultimately capable of enlist.
In line with U.S. army information, Brouillette was enlisted within the Maine Military Nationwide Guard from November 2007 till January 2010. He then joined the common Military as a human intelligence collector. Brouillette deployed to Afghanistan from Could 2012 to February 2013 and ultimately left the Military as a sergeant in December 2015.
Life after the Military
After his discharge, Brouillette held a hodgepodge of jobs — some in or adjoining to regulation enforcement — and was injured in an accident whereas coaching to change into a firefighter, public information and courtroom paperwork present.
However by the tip of 2021, he wrote in a textual content message included in courtroom filings, he was broke, going to highschool full-time and creating wealth delivering meals for DoorDash.
In March, the Maine company that handles baby help issues filed a lien in opposition to him, public information present. The submitting means that Brouillette might have been in line for a everlasting impairment or incapacity settlement.
‘I don’t suppose he sees himself as a killer’
In late 2025, across the time he joined ICE, his ex-wife Ashley stated he left a three-minute voicemail mocking her for taking out a restraining order in opposition to him. In line with the message she shared with AP, he repeatedly known as her “disgusting” and prompt that she and the opposite feminine members of her “bloodline” ought to die.
“And all of it’s best to have your f——–g throats lower,” the voicemail stated. “Yeah, it’s best to. Am I threatening that I’m gonna do this? Nope. Nope. However do I believe that it’s best to have your f——-g throats cuts? Or ought to have had them lower? Yep.”
She stated she lower off contact with him till Wednesday, when his image started circulating on-line.
Ashley Brouillette reached out to his present spouse on Fb and so they spoke on the cellphone for a number of minutes. Her ex-husband spoke together with her, in accordance with cellphone screenshots of the cellphone change she shared with the AP. He acknowledged he had fatally shot Durán Guerrero.
“He was asking if I might inform them that he was a superb particular person and to not discuss in regards to the abuse and stuff that I had endured whereas with him and he stated that an important factor is his character proper now,” she stated.
She stated he informed her he’s now hiding in protecting custody.
“I requested him why he did it,” she stated. “He stated it was a justified capturing. The man was attempting to run him over with a automobile.”
His daughter additionally stated he informed her it was justified.
“I don’t suppose he sees himself as a killer,” Madison Brouillette stated.
Brook reported from New Orleans, Sisak reported from New York and Galofaro reported from Louisville, Kentucky. Related Press reporter Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.
Brook is a corps member for The Related Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on undercovered points.
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