A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man during a traffic stop on the north side of Austin on Sunday afternoon, leaving him hospitalized with a single gunshot wound to the torso. Within hours, about 100 protesters gathered at the scene. The shooting has intensified scrutiny of a federal agency whose summer enforcement surge has produced record arrests and at least two other shootings since July. Local officials are now demanding that Austin police be allowed to investigate the shooting rather than leaving the inquiry to the federal agency alone.
The man was identified by immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan. Lincoln-Goldfinch said in a video posted to her Instagram account that she believed he had no criminal history and no final order of removal from the United States. She later told the Associated Press she did not know his current immigration status. The family has struggled to get any information from the hospital about his condition or location, she said.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis told reporters at a news conference that the man was in serious but stable condition. Austin police were not involved. The shooting occurred after a traffic stop, Davis said. She could not provide many facts so soon after the incident. Her department’s special investigation unit was at the scene. Davis said she did not yet know the nationality of the person who was shot.
A dark blue Toyota Corolla sat parked under an overpass with damage to its passenger-side door and what appeared to be bullet holes, local media reported. A large law enforcement presence cordoned off the area. Some cursed at police. Officers held riot shields as demonstrators yelled and passing cars honked in support of the protest. One man held a sign reading “Nobody is safe” on one side and “ICE Nazi” on the other.
Officials demand independent investigation
Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, said he wants the city’s police department involved in the investigation to provide what he called “clear, third-party eyes” in the process. He said he does not think it would be appropriate for ICE to conduct an investigation on its own. Austin residents have a right to feel safe in their city, Watson said, and a proper investigation will only enhance credibility.
Asked whether Austin authorities knew where the involved federal agent was, given that agents have left states after previous shootings nationwide, the mayor was direct. “We do not know that,” Watson said. “But my hope would be that an agent that’s involved in an officer-involved shooting would not leave the city.” “Certainly not leave the state.” The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not participate in the news conference and did not immediately respond to requests for details. No ICE officials appeared at the event to address the shooting or answer questions from reporters.
US Representative Greg Casar, a Democrat representing parts of Austin, called for transparency. “It is awful that this horror has come to our doorstep,” Casar told reporters. “For Austin to be safe, ICE should end its surge here.”
Shooting follows months of escalated enforcement
The shooting comes as ICE surged enforcement across the United States this summer, producing more than 50,000 arrests a month for the first time in its history in July and August. In July, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo of Houston after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was taking his construction crew to a job site. Also in July, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian man, was shot by an ICE officer in Maine. The officer in that case is an army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, several of his close relatives told the Associated Press. They said he never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets.
The administration’s enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota. As of the news conference, ICE had not publicly explained what prompted the traffic stop or what led the officer to open fire.