ICE officer connected to fatal Maine shooting suffered 2021 head injury, which he said had left him with ‘cognitive deficits’

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 Brouillette alleged in court papers that he had become “aggressive” with his daughter, including by dumping a plate of spaghetti in her hair and tackling her. A judge dismissed that case without a finding of abuse.

David Brouillette wrote in another court filing that his second ex-wife made “accusations against me in retaliation for anger.”

Ashley Brouillette and Lucinda Brouillette each have a daughter with David Brouillette.

“Honestly, I’m in a state of shock,” Ashley Brouillette told CNN on Wednesday. “I feel really sad, and I feel sad for that man’s family that died. I feel sad for his children, but I also feel bad for my daughter and her little sister because that’s their father.”

Lucinda Brouillette told CNN in a text message that she “experienced a persistent pattern of abuse, intimidation, manipulation, fear, and control” throughout and after her marriage. “The emotional, psychological, and physical scars of those experiences have remained with me long after the marriage ended,” she said.

In court records, he denied and disputed abuse allegations. A search of a Maine criminal records database showed no evidence that he has ever been charged with or convicted of a crime.

David Brouillette appeared to try his hand at a variety of jobs before joining ICE.

The Army confirmed Brouillette served as a soldier in both the Maine National Guard and the regular army from 2007 to 2015 and deployed to Afghanistan.

He served as a state correctional officer in 2015, and as a police officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to records. The VA did not respond to requests for comment. He also worked briefly in real estate around 2025.

In 2021, Brouillette pursued a certification to become a professional firefighter through a program at Southern Maine Community College, which required both academic classes and field exercises, according to court documents.

During training on December 3, 2021, Brouillette was injured while unloading a trailer, according to his lawsuit, when a heavy I-beam fell on him, causing a “serious laceration to his head” and a concussion. Lasting injuries, he said, included “impaired memory, cognitive deficits, headaches, vertigo and light sensitivity.”

He was unable to complete the program, according to the 2023 suit.

The college, in court documents, stated Brouillette and other students had “failed” to properly stabilize the transport before unloading equipment. The case later settled, a college spokesperson told CNN.

Ashley Brouillete said her ex-husband told her in December that he had joined ICE.

Last year, as ICE was ramping up its hiring spree, the agency specifically sought military veterans and current and former police officers.

Law enforcement officers were in especially high demand, according to sources familiar with the hiring process, because they could be pushed through training faster. One former Homeland Security official said the goal was for the overwhelming majority of new hires to be law enforcement officers.

“We were operating under the assumption that they’d be familiar with basic law enforcement principles and equipment,” the former official said.

Applicants who fell under that category would generally take an online course and then get training at their designated offices — all of which could happen in a span of weeks or less.

It’s unclear how much additional vetting was done for those who had previous law enforcement experience. CNN previously reported that the speedy hiring push had resulted in minimal background checks, fueling concerns among former and current ICE officials at the time. DHS defended its training policies.

It is unclear exactly how much or what type of training Brouillette received from ICE. DHS said recently it has instituted additional training, including for crowd control, high-risk vehicle stops and medical training, plus a live-fire cover course.

Asked by CNN if the officers involved in the recent shootings in Houston and Biddeford were on administrative leave, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a news conference Friday, “When there’s a shooting involved, standard practice is that individual goes on administrative leave while the investigation is going through.”

Federal investigations into the Maine shooting are ongoing.

CNN’s Gabe Cohen, Bob Crowley, Yahya Abou-Ghazala and Thomas Bordeaux contributed to this report.

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