A 28-year-old man was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on Tuesday morning in St. Augustine, Florida, after fleeing from federal immigration agents, authorities said.
The deadly encounter occurred shortly before 7 a.m. when agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations conducted a stop at a gas station and convenience store on State Road 16. Four occupants of a vehicle in the parking lot fled on foot during the encounter, with one running across the busy roadway into the path of the tractor-trailer.
According to Florida Highway Patrol Sergeant Dylan Bryan, the man darted across State Road 16 at the intersection with Green Acres Road and was struck by the semi-truck. The driver of the tractor-trailer immediately stopped and attempted to help the man, but he died at the scene from fatal injuries. The truck driver was uninjured in the incident.
The death marked a tragic escalation in a particularly deadly week for immigration enforcement operations. The Florida incident was the third death involving ICE agents in approximately seven days, following two fatal shootings in other states.
On July 7, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national who had lived in the United States for decades, was fatally shot by an ICE officer during a traffic stop in Houston. Salgado Araujo was a homebuilder who was driving his construction crew to a job site when federal officers attempted to stop his vehicle. He was not the intended target of the operation. The Department of Homeland Security said the officer opened fire after Salgado Araujo ignored commands and allegedly attempted to ram the officer with his vehicle, though passengers present disputed that account.
Two days after the Houston shooting, on Monday, July 13, a 26-year-old Colombian national named Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Biddeford, Maine. Guerrero, who was legally authorized to work in the United States, was shot after leaving his apartment. According to the Maine Attorney General’s office, federal officers fired as Guerrero allegedly drove “in the direction of the officer” in an attempt to flee. However, Guerrero was not the intended target of the immigration operation, according to state officials. Guerrero had two jobs in the area, working as a food delivery driver and at a veterinary clinic, and was seeking to build a stable life with his wife and young daughter.
The Trump administration responded to the Maine shooting by directing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to pause most traffic stops. The directive represented a striking tactical reversal just days after the Houston shooting raised similar concerns about ICE enforcement operations.
A significant issue highlighted across all three incidents has been the lack of body cameras worn by federal agents involved. Neither the Houston shooting nor the Maine shooting involved officers equipped with body-worn cameras, hampering efforts to independently verify accounts of what transpired. The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that body cameras have been distributed to more than half of ICE’s field offices, with the remaining half expected to receive them within 60 days, attributing delays to previous government shutdowns.
The Florida death differs significantly from the two fatal shootings in that it did not involve an officer discharging a weapon. Instead, the man died after running into traffic while fleeing the immigration enforcement operation. Florida Highway Patrol is conducting the traffic fatality investigation into the incident.
Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to requests for comment regarding the Florida incident. The deaths have sparked outrage among immigrant advocacy groups and elected officials, with some calling for independent investigations and reviews of ICE enforcement tactics. The series of incidents has intensified scrutiny on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign, which has ramped up arrests and deportation operations since taking office.
The fatal incident on State Road 16 in St. Johns County closed the roadway temporarily as investigators worked to determine exactly what happened. The case has drawn attention to the dangers faced by individuals who flee during immigration enforcement operations, as well as broader questions about how these encounters are conducted and the risks to public safety they may create.