By Michael Williams, Curt Devine, Priscilla Alvarez, CNN
(CNN) — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer connected to the fatal shooting of a man in Maine this week once told a court that he suffered lingering cognitive issues after sustaining a serious head injury.
Those problems, which David Brouillette said resulted from a steel I-beam falling on his head, were so debilitating that he couldn’t complete a firefighting training course and was still feeling effects years later.
The lawsuit Brouillette filed in late 2023 against the Maine Community College System, which administered the training where he was earlier injured, said he was still “significantly impaired in his activities and in his daily living.” The suit alleged his post-concussive injuries “impaired his cognitive functioning and impaired his memory.”
Just over two years later, Brouillette was working as an ICE officer.
Brouillette, 37, was among the officers on the scene in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday after a fatal ICE shooting, according to two of his ex-wives who reviewed photos of the incident.
CNN has not independently confirmed whether Brouillette fatally shot 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. Federal officials have not publicly identified who shot Durán Guerrero. The Department of Homeland Security said the officer used deadly force because he was “fearing for public safety.”
One of Brouillette’s ex-wives and one of his daughters told CNN that he contacted them days after the shooting and said that he opened fire. Both said he told them he thought the shooting was justified. Federal sources separately confirmed to CNN that he is an ICE officer.
The court filings about Brouillette’s head injury reviewed by CNN raise fresh questions about ICE’s vetting and training practices.
Durán Guerrero’s killing, the second time an ICE officer fatally shot an immigrant behind the wheel of a car in less than a week, and the fourth killing this year by federal immigration authorities, has sparked protests and demands for a transparent investigation.
Ashley Brouillette, one of his ex-wives, told CNN that he told her on a Facebook call days after the incident that he was the officer who shot Durán Guerrero. She also identified him as one of the officers seen on video at the scene after the shooting.
One of Brouillette’s daughters also said he told her he was the shooter.
A second ex-wife, Lucinda Brouillette, identified him as being on the scene after reviewing an image of two officers who were there shortly after Durán Guerrero was killed.
Brouillette did not respond to several requests for comment.
Brouillette’s two ex-wives have also accused him of abuse, according to interviews and court documents. In 2009, a child-protective caseworker wrote in a letter that Ashley Brouillette “ended her marriage to David and now admits that he was verbally and physically abusive to her.” That same year, an attorney for Ashley Brouillette wrote, “There is a history of allegations of domestic violence between the parties.”
In 2019, Brouillette’s second ex-wife, Lucinda Brouillette, filed a “complaint for protection from abuse” against him, stating that he had a history of violence. In documents, she described incidents in which she said he “pushed” past her, threatened her brother that he would “put him in the hospital” and “bumped” her with his chest.
A judge issued an order that month for David Brouillette to temporarily relinquish any firearms.
An order on the case issued in 2020 did not include a finding of abuse but prohibited David Brouillette from having contact with his second ex-wife with a few exceptions. In 2021, Lucinda Brouille