ICE Agent Shoots Venezuelan Driver in Austin, Protests Erupt

An ICE agent shot and wounded 28-year-old Venezuelan delivery driver Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in North Austin, prompting protests and calls for an independent investigation.

Austin-Travis County EMS crews were notified of a reported shooting around 12:56 p.m. in the area of Anderson Square in North Austin, where paramedics found an adult man with a gunshot wound to the torso. He was transported to a local trauma center in serious but stable condition, officials said at a City Hall news conference. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said city police officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting, which followed a traffic stop and what she described as a preliminary report of a brief foot pursuit. She said she had been told the shooter was an ICE agent, but emphasized that information was very preliminary and that she had not yet been briefed by federal authorities. A dark blue Toyota Corolla at the scene showed damage to its passenger-side door and what appeared to be bullet holes.

Officials did not initially release the victim's name, but immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, representing his family, identified him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan who worked as a DoorDash delivery driver. According to BBC, Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garces Perez called his wife from the hospital while 'yelling in pain,' and that he was in ICE custody. She told DW she believed he had no criminal history and no final removal order, though she later told the Associated Press she did not know his current immigration status. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to BBC that it was investigating the shooting of a man who had entered the country illegally. The family, per the lawyer, has struggled to get information from the hospital about his status or location.

The incident came amid what Mayor Kirk Watson described as a significant, near-overnight surge of ICE operations in Austin, where he said detentions and stops jumped from a handful to the thirties in less than a couple of days. Watson wrote that he was 'very angry and extremely disappointed' that a person was shot on Austin's streets by ICE, saying that with 'the rogue nature of ICE' there was no reason to be surprised given how the agency has operated in other cities. The shooting also fits a national pattern: PBS reports ICE produced more than 50,000 arrests a month for the first time in its history in July and August, and The Independent notes the Trump administration's deportation campaign has a reported goal of expelling 1 million people a year.

Roughly 100 protesters gathered across the street from the damaged Toyota Corolla as ICE agents stood nearby, some waving flags of Mexico and Guatemala and carrying signs demanding ICE leave Austin, Reuters reported. Some demonstrators cursed at police officers holding riot shields while passing cars honked in support; one man held a sign reading 'Nobody is safe' on one side and 'ICE Nazi' on the other. The shooting occurred during a broader wave of unrest tied to the administration's immigration crackdown, which has sparked protests in several US cities since January, when Austinites first gathered to demand ICE leave the city.

Mayor Watson said it would not be appropriate for ICE to investigate itself and pushed for the Austin Police Department's involvement to provide 'clear, third-party eyes.' Police Chief Davis said APD's Special Investigation Unit was deployed and that Texas Rangers will assist, with Homeland Security Investigations agreeing to cooperate. The Travis County District Attorney's office, according to FOX 7 Austin, is requesting to be a co-equal investigative partner and noted the incident 'possibly included violations of state law.' US Representative Greg Casar, a Democrat whose district includes the scene, called for the release of body camera footage and accountability, saying 'it is awful that this horror has come to our doorstep' and demanding ICE end its surge. Democratic lawmakers have pushed reforms including mandatory body cameras and barring agents from concealing their faces.

The Austin shooting follows a series of deadly ICE incidents. In July, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo of Houston during a traffic stop even though he was not a target of an ICE investigation, according to DHS. Also in July, 25-year-old Colombian Johan Sebastián was shot by an ICE officer in Maine. Earlier this month, the Justice Department charged an ICE agent with lying about the non-fatal shooting of a Venezuelan migrant in Minnesota — a rare instance of the current DOJ accusing a federal agent of a crime. The Independent also reports that in Minneapolis in January, two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were fatally shot while separately protesting ICE operations. The immediate investigation in Austin involves APD, Texas Rangers and HSI, with details still scarce about what led to the shooting.