ICE Officer Shoots Venezuelan Man in Austin

The Texas Tribune

AUSTIN, TX — An immigration enforcement agent shot and injured a man in Austin on Sunday, city officials said.

Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an Austin immigration lawyer, said she was hired to represent the man and that he was released from the hospital and into federal custody Sunday evening. 

She identified him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, of Venezuela, and said he had a valid work permit and entered the U.S. legally. The attorney said he was working on a DoorDash delivery when the shooting occurred, and the man subsequently called his wife from inside the vehicle.

Kristin Etter, one of Garces Perez’s lawyers, said immigration agents are holding him at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, about a two-hour drive south of Austin.

In a statement issued late Sunday night, DHS officials said Homeland Security Investigations — one of the department branches — would probe the shooting, with support from the FBI. Without naming Garces Perez, the statement said he entered the country illegally during the Biden administration but did not provide additional information. 

DHS officials said the shooting happened during a law enforcement operation but did not detail how the man came onto their radar. The department added that his condition has stabilized, before suggesting that federal authorities are seeking to deport him.

The ICE agent shot Garcez Perez after a “small foot pursuit,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis and other city officials said during a news conference. The man was wounded by a single gunshot in the upper torso, local officials said.

Sheridan Nolen, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said state troopers received a call at around 12:50 p.m. from ICE officials asking for help in a pursuit of a blue Toyota Corolla. Before troopers arrived, the ICE agent had shot the man, Nolen said. 

“Once they arrived, DPS Troopers immediately began assisting partner law enforcement agencies in performing medical treatment on the driver of the Toyota Corolla,” Nolen said.

The scene of the shooting — near Research Boulevard and Anderson Square — became intense Sunday. Just before 6 p.m., police officers shot pepper ball-like projectiles at the crowd after some demonstrators threw rocks and water bottles at law enforcement.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said at a news conference earlier in the day that he wants an independent investigation into the shooting, in part, because of the “chaos” we see it causing. 

Even though Austin police were not involved in the operation that led to the shooting, he said it is important that the city’s residents know what happened and why. 

Austin police and Texas Rangers plan to investigate the shooting along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency that oversees immigration enforcement, Davis said.