A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man Sunday afternoon in Austin, Texas, local authorities said. Anti-ICE protesters quickly gathered at the scene on the capital city’s north side.
The man was in serious but stable condition at a hospital after being shot once in the torso following a traffic stop, Austin officials said at a news conference.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not participate in the news conference and did not respond to repeated requests for details.
Austin police officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting, Police Chief Lisa Davis said while briefing reporters along with the city’s mayor and other officials.
The chief said there were not many facts she could provide so soon after the incident but added that her department’s special investigation unit was at the scene.
Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, said he wants the city’s police department to have a role in the investigation so it can provide “clear, third-party eyes” in the process. Watson said he does not think it would be appropriate for ICE to conduct an investigation on its own.
“Austinites have a right to feel safe in their city,” Watson said. A proper investigation will only enhance credibility, he added.
An immigration attorney representing the man’s family identified him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan man.
Attorney Kate 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 U.S. She later told The Associated Press that she did not know his current immigration status.
The man’s family has struggled to get any information from the hospital about his status or location, Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
Just before 7 p.m., the man’s wife was informed by the hospital’s attorney that the man had been released into ICE custody a few hours earlier, Lincoln-Goldfinch wrote in a text to AP.
“No one bothered to update her,” she wrote.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the man remained hospitalized while in ICE custody or if he had been transferred elsewhere.
A dark blue Toyota Corolla was parked under an overpass with damage to its passenger-side door and what appeared to be bullet holes. The car was towed away in the early evening and traffic began moving again.
A large law enforcement presence was present along with a crowd of about a hundred protesters. Some demonstrators cursed at police officers holding riot shields, while others yelled out as passing cars honked in support of the protest. One man held a sign saying, “Nobody is safe” and, on the other side, “ICE Nazi.”
Asked if Austin authorities knew where the involved federal agent is, given that agents have left states after previous shootings nationwide, the mayor said: “We do not know that. 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 office of Travis County District Attorney José Pompa Garza asked that local police and prosecutors be included in the investigation.
“We further request cooperation from the federal government in giving us access to the evidence,” the DA’s office said in a statement Sunday evening.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat representing parts of Austin, called for transparency as the shooting is investigated.
“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.”
