BIDDEFORD – The wife of a Colombian man shot to death by ICE agents Monday morning in Biddeford spoke out for the first time Thursday afternoon in a press conference.

“My soul is broken. He was everything to me. He never let me worry about anything,” said Karolina Rojas Alvarez through a translator.

Alvarez is the wife of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, 26, who was shot and killed in his vehicle Monday at the corner of Hill and Pool streets. On Thursday, she gave a brief statement via a translator, and took no questions.

Alvarez’s attorney, Ben Gideon, told reporters, “Karolina wanted to make this statement because she wants to ensure that Johan Sebastian’s memory does not become a casualty of the same people who so needlessly took his life.” 

Alvarez fought back tears as she described Guerrero as a loving husband and devoted father.

“He always made me feel like a queen,” she said. “I never wanted for anything. He gave me more than I ever dreamed of. I will never have the words to express what a marvelous, loving man God gave me.”

Guerrero leaves behind a 3-year-old daughter. Alvarez did not name her but noted that Guerrero called her his “Gordita.”

“From the moment he held her in his arms and held her tiny hand, he never let her go,” she said. 

Alvarez said on Monday Guerrero was supposed to be spending the afternoon with his daughter after work, but he never came home.

“Now my daughter asks for Papá, and I don't have the strength to tell her that Papá isn't coming, that she can't hug him anymore or tell him, ‘Papi, I love you,’” she said. 

Gideon, with the firm Gideon Asen, has made headlines in recent years acting as co-counsel in the class action lawsuit against the U.S. Army, representing family members of victims of the 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston.

On Thursday, Gideon did not announce any legal action. 

“Today is not a day about lawyers or lawsuits,” he said. “There will come a time when those responsible for Johan Sebastian’s needless death will have to answer for what they did, but today is not that day and this is not that time.”

Gideon said that Guerrero had not been accused of any crime and was not the target of the ICE agents on Monday. In fact, he said, Guerrero had a work permit and even a social security number.

“He was in this country lawfully, and he was following a lawful process that’s prescribed by our federal government,” he said.

Gideon said Guerrero left his Biddeford home at 7 a.m. Monday for work like he did every day, and there were no reports that morning of any public disturbances or crises of any kind. 

“It was a peaceful, tranquil, beautiful summer morning in the state of Maine,” he said.

Gideon accused the federal government of treating Guerrero’s death as “collateral damage,” and warned that these incidents might happen again.

“Last week, it was Houston, Texas, this week it was it was Biddeford, Maine, and it will be somewhere else next week,” he said.