A federal agent fired paintball-like projectiles at the cars of at least two people observing them in a Home Depot parking lot on Friday, marking one of the most dramatic confrontations between officers and the public since Maine’s immigration surge began last week.

It happened when the onlookers did not immediately leave an area of a South Portland parking lot where about six agents had gathered, according to two witnesses who recounted the episode in interviews. The projectiles left sticky, orange marks on their windshields, bumpers and car doors, they said, providing photos and videos to corroborate their accounts.

One video shows a group of about six officers approaching several vehicles in the lot. Two of them held rifles and one of them held a device that resembled a paintball gun. It is not clear what kind of threat the onlookers presented that would have justified the agent’s use of force.

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This story appears as part of a collaboration between The Maine Monitor and Maine Focus, the investigative team of the @bangordailynews, a partnership to strengthen investigative journalism in Maine.