Mexican man killed by truck as he ran from ICE in St. Augustine identified as tourist

Immigration admin July 20, 2026 0 Comments

Mexican man killed by truck as he ran from ICE in St. Augustine identified as tourist

The Mexican man who officials say was killed by a truck last week in St. Augustine while running from immigration officers was identified as a father of two on vacation with a valid tourist visa, his family said.

Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran, 28, was visiting from his hometown of San Luis de La Paz, a small city in the northeastern state of Guanajuato, according to Orlando-based non-profit Colectivo Árbol. Officials have yet to confirm his identity.

Isaret Jeffers, who represents the organization and has been providing support to his wife, Jessica Alamilla, said Coronilla Duran arrived in the U.S. three weeks ago for vacation, and had only been in Florida for two days. He was hit and killed by the truck on July 14.

“He was going to return this past Saturday. He had already bought a flight,” Jeffers said. “Now, unfortunately, if he is returning, his return is different.”

READ MORE: Mexican man is killed by truck as he flees immigration agents in St. Augustine

The Florida Highway Patrol told the Miami Herald last week that the agency found he had been running from an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations agents. DHS has not provided new details since the incident took place last week.

His was the third death following an encounter with immigration officials in a week, after federal agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican man in Houston on July 7, and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian man, in Biddeford, Maine on July 13. Neither of the men were the targets of the agents.

As the Trump Administration carries out a sweeping mass deportation campaign, agents are rounding up immigrants on sidewalks, highways and in homes, some with work permits and other legal documentation. U.S. citizens have also been stopped and detained.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has opened an investigation into the deaths of at least 18 Mexican nationals since Trump assumed office, some of whom died during arrests and others in immigration detention. She said her government wants to file criminal charges.

“We express our deepest solidarity and sincere condolences to the family of the victims. Their pain is shared by the entire nation,” Sheinbaum said on July 14. “No fellow citizen should be unprotected when facing possible abuse from authority, disproportionate use of force, or human rights violations.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security declined to provide further details of last week’s incident in St. Augustine.

“On July 14, DHS law enforcement conducted an operation near St. Johns, Florida. Florida Highway Patrol and HSI are investigating an incident resulting in the death of a Mexican national,” read a statement sent again to the Herald on Monday. “We will provide an update when available.”

Coronilla Duran’s wife found out about his death while watching television, Jeffers said. Alamilla declined a request to be interviewed, and Jeffers said she is focused on returning home with his body.

Alamilla hadn’t heard from her husband in more than a day when she saw the news that a man had been killed, and feared it was him. The couple have been married for 10 years and have a seven-month-old daughter and a seven-year-old son, Jeffers said. They own a small business in San Luis de La Paz.

Alamilla flew to Florida on Friday to make arrangements with a local funeral home, Jeffers said, while relatives watched their children. On Monday, she worked with the Mexican consulate to take his body back home to Mexico.

Of the Mexicans who have died in ICE custody or during arrests, at least four died by presumed suicide, including 19-year-old Royer Perez-Jimenez in March in Florida.

Jeffers said that Colectivo Árbol mainly supports farmworkers, many of whom are afraid to leave their homes amid immigration arrests.

“People are too afraid to go out and do things that used to be normal, like going to the supermarket, taking their kids to the park,” Jeffers said. “None of that is happening anymore.”

Unmarked blue SUVs

Jose Rivera, a truck driver for a garbage collection company, witnessed Coronilla Duran run out of the gas station in front of a Wawa convenience store off the highway.

Rivera had stopped for breakfast, and was sitting in his truck parallel to the highway just before 7 a.m. Coronilla Duran wore a light sky blue hoodie over a white T-shirt, blue jeans and Timberland shoes, he said.

Coronilla Duran ran to the sidewalk leading to State Road 16 and turned around. Rivera followed Coronilla Duran’s gaze in his truck’s rearview mirror to see what he was running from.

“That’s when I see the undercover car with the lights on,” Rivera said. “But when I looked back, he started running across the road.”

Rivera said he saw unmarked blue SUVs with tinted windowsstopped on either side of a car at the gas station, and one moved to follow Coronilla Duran. The agents were in green uniforms, he said, and he thought they were from St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. But the sheriff’s office told the Herald it wasn’t involved in the incident, and responded later to investigate the traffic accident.

Rivera said Coronilla Duran reached the median of the highway, a small strip of grass, slipped and fell, picked himself up, and stumbled onto the asphalt of the other lane of traffic.

“The traffic was coming pretty quick, and he just lost his footing and didn’t look where the traffic was coming,” Rivera said. “He kept looking back.”

Rivera watched as the man fell in front of a trailer-tractor, and knew instantly that he had died.

Agents didn’t notice at first, Rivera thought, because he saw an officer point to the woods on the other side, as if they thought he escaped. But then they noticed the body in the road.

“It was a heartbreaking moment for me,” Rivera said. “I have kids around his age.”

Officers began to close off the road, and Rivera drove off. When he later heard the man’s age he found it hard to believe. He looked younger, in the brief second Rivera glimpsed his face.

“I hate when things like that happen, especially to young ones,” Rivera told the Herald. “I’m almost 60, and yeah, you know, I’ve been through a lot of life, but everybody should make it until they’re older, right?”