Biddeford, Maine - The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot a Colombian man in Maine this week reportedly abused his wife and has severe mental health problems.
The ex-wife of David Brouilette, the ICE agent who shot Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero in Maine on Monday, told the Portland Press Herald he called her and admitted to the killing on Wednesday.
According to Ashley Brouilette, he tried to defend his actions and even asked her to cover for his character in any future legal battle.
"He was asking me to lie for him and to cover for his character," she said. "I told him that I was not going to lie for him. And then he tried to say that it was a justified shooting because the guy tried to hit him with his car."
Having viewed publicly available videos of the shooting, Ashley said she'd told him that "nowhere in there does it show that this man charged at you with a car."
Ashley told the Press Herald that she's long had concerns about Brouilette's mental health and had even gone to his superiors with concerns. He had been abusive to her when they were married, she claims.
These claims are backed up by a close relative of Brouilette, who told the Associated Press that he'd had mental health issues since childhood which were made far worse by his experiences in the US Army.
The relative strongly believes that he was unfit to work for ICE due to his history with mental health and violence.
"Afghanistan destroyed him – trained him to be a killing monster, a machine," the person said. "They took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a killing machine."