An ICE officer shot and seriously wounded a Venezuelan man Sunday afternoon as he was delivering food in Austin, Texas, his lawyer said.
The man was taken to a local hospital and was “in serious but stable condition” after being shot in the torso, Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said at a news conference earlier.
The White House referred NBC News to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. A spokesperson for the DHS, the federal agency to which Immigration and Customs Enforcement belongs, said in a statement late Sunday that the man was stable and was in federal custody pending removal from the U.S.
Immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch identified him as Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez, 28, and said he was an asylum seeker who entered the country through a parole program.
“Today at 12:30, Wilber called his wife to tell her that he had been shot,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said in an interview. “And he was yelling in agony, and the call cut off. That was all she knew.”
The DHS spokesperson said Garcés Perez entered the country illegally under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal, adding that Homeland Security Investigations, with help from the FBI, will lead an investigation into the shooting.
The shooting occurred around 1 p.m. in North Austin.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Sheridan Nolen said the agency received a request for assistance from ICE for a vehicle pursuit involving a blue Toyota Corolla.
A social media video verified by NBC News captures the sound of tires screeching followed by a person exiting a dark-colored SUV as a blue sedan is stopped next to it, both vehicles facing one another.
At least three gunshots are heard as the person approaches the sedan and runs up to it as it slowly lurches forward. The video shows the person standing next to the sedan’s driver’s side as it stops in front of an intersection. The sedan also appears to be damaged on the passenger side.
The shooting occurred before DPS troopers arrived at the scene, 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,” she said in a statement.
Lincoln-Goldfinch, who is representing Garcés Perez, said lawyers for the hospital where he was treated indicated he had been released, though she wasn’t sure at the time to whom.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said she was with his wife at the hospital earlier, hoping to get information on his condition, but they were escorted from the premises.
“We not only were lied to and told that he wasn’t there, but we were thrown off the hospital grounds by several officers who treated us as trespassers,” she said.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson showed up several hours later and had a hospital administrator call Lincoln-Goldfinch and the man’s wife, the lawyer said. The administrator confirmed he had been released to ICE, she said.
The hospital, Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas, did not respond to a request for comment.
“We are deeply concerned that his wife and family have not been permitted to see him and have not received a meaningful update regarding his current condition or whereabouts,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said in a statement earlier.
Garcés Perez, who Lincoln-Goldfinch said lives in Austin, is a DoorDash driver. In an email, a company spokesperson confirmed Garcés Perez was making a delivery at the time, adding that DoorDash is investigating and would not release more information “at this time.”
Lincoln-Goldfinch said her priority, and that of Garcés Perez’s family, is to find him and verify his condition.
“No one has told me or Wilber’s wife what the treatment was or how he’s doing,” she said, “and I feel very confident he is in a lot of pain right now as we speak.”
DHS has not provided any information about whether the ICE agent involved was wearing a body camera or if the man was the target of an operation or has any criminal background other than an immigration violation.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said his wife, who has legal status, indicated her husband has no criminal history.
The shooting comes as ICE surges enforcement across the country this summer, producing more than 50,000 arrests a month for the first time in its history in July and August.
Watson, Austin’s mayor, said the city’s police department was not involved in the incident.
Police Chief Lisa Davis said a “small foot pursuit” had occurred and that Austin police investigators were on the scene. Davis added that she was in contact with Homeland Security Investigations and other state law enforcement agencies.
“A person being shot on the streets of Austin by someone purporting to be law enforcement, particularly when it’s ICE, is something that causes me to be unhappy and angry,” Watson said at the news conference. “While I’m unhappy and I’m angry about it, I’m not surprised at all.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, demanded an independent investigation, the release of any body camera footage and “accountability for any ICE officer who broke the law.”
“Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened. We can see the lies with our own eyes. We will demand truth, transparency and accountability,” he said in a post on X.
In a letter addressed to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting ICE Director David Venturella, Casar insisted on receiving a Congressional briefing by Sept. 28.
James Talarico, who is running as the Democratic candidate for one of Texas’ U.S. Senate seats, said he is “closely following” reports of the shooting, and requested an investigation and all available footage.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, demanded “full accountability.”
“Trump has allowed ICE to flood our streets and put our communities in harms way again and again,” he said in a post on X.
In reaction to the shooting, the League of United Latin American Citizens — the largest Latino civil rights organization in the U.S. — called on Congress to establish an independent oversight of immigration enforcement.
Watson said he has asked for the city of Austin to be involved in any forthcoming investigations so that the police department can “be in a position to offer clear third-party eyes and expertise”
In a statement, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office requested to be “co-equal partners in the investigation” and to receive cooperation from the federal government.
Protesters who gathered at the site of the shooting on Sunday afternoon and evening, next to an elevated stretch of Highway 183, shouted anti-ICE slogans in English and Spanish. Some carried signs that said, “Stop ICE murder,” “Moms against ICE” and “Abolish ICE.”
One woman, who said she has lived in Austin for 33 years, told NBC News earlier Sunday that she has never witnessed an incident like this and it “broke my heart.”
The protest was punctuated with the sounds of drums, and someone could be heard saying, “They don’t want you to be here,” via loudspeaker.
Late Sunday night, the gathering roiled with tension, and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers responded by deploying tear gas and, in some instances, tackling protesters.
Protesters had dispersed and troopers appeared to have exited the area by 11 p.m. local time.
The shooting comes two months after an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, in Houston during an attempted traffic stop to conduct an immigration arrest. DHS has said Salgado Araujo was in the country illegally and attempted to run over agents, but it has not provided evidence of its claims.
