Another Man Shot By Ice, His Car Struck Twice Before Getting Shot
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| Police tape surrounds the location where local authorities say a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man in Austin, Texas, on Sunday.Credit...Joel Angel Juarez/Associated Press |
New York Times
The man shot by an immigration agent in Austin, Texas, over the weekend said Monday that he was bleeding and in pain and that a bullet remained lodged in his back.
The man, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, an immigrant from Venezuela, said that he only felt one gunshot enter his body when a federal immigration officer shot him on Sunday afternoon. He added that the bullet, which was lodged near his spine, was not removed at the hospital where he was taken because a doctor said that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement were in a hurry to transport him.
“I am not doing well because of the gunshot wound I received,” Mr. Garces Perez said in Spanish on a speakerphone at a news conference on Monday. “I have not received the necessary medical attention.”
Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to questions about Mr. Garces Perez’s account.
ICE agents were in northwest Austin on Sunday checking license plates when they discovered that Mr. Garces Perez, 28, had a deportation order on file, said two people familiar with the shooting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. They said he was not the target of a federal investigation before the encounter.
The shooting was the second in Texas by an ICE agent since July and the latest in a series of violent episodes involving federal immigration agents across the country. More than 20 people have been shot at by ICE since President Trump took office last year, nearly all of them in their cars, and some fatally.
The Homeland Security Investigations unit of D.H.S. and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are leading the investigation into the shooting of Mr. Garces Perez, a spokesman for D.H.S. said.
Mr. Garces Perez told his immigration lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, that he entered the United States in 2024 through a government program for asylum seekers. After entry, he got a work permit.
At one point, he told his lawyer, he changed his address in immigration court and a hearing notice was sent to his former home. He didn’t know that he had a hearing and did not go, which led to the deportation order.
The agents pulled Mr. Garces Perez over at about 12:45 p.m. on Sunday while he was making DoorDash deliveries. They told him that they were ICE agents and that he was going to be arrested. Mr. Garces Perez fled in his car after that, the two people familiar with the shooting said.
A short chase ensued before ICE agents encountered Mr. Garces Perez again, they said. The shooting occurred after that. Mr. Garces Perez was shot in the back and taken to a hospital and later released into ICE custody.
At the news conference on Monday, Mr. Garces Perez recounted the moments leading up to the shooting. While he was making a delivery, an S.U.V. had tried to hit his car. He said he assumed it was an aggressive driver and he continued on his route.
He said that the S.U.V. then hit his vehicle and turned on police lights after the collision. An ICE agent came up to him, identified himself, asked him for his immigration documents and requested that he get out of the car, Mr. Garces Perez said.
Mr. Garces Perez said that he asked the officer why he was being stopped. The ICE agent insisted that he get out of his vehicle. Mr. Garces Perez said he would, but asked if he could pull his vehicle to the side of the road so that someone could pick it up later.
Mr. Garces Perez said the officer replied “No,” but he did a loop anyway to park the vehicle in a secure spot.
He said that the federal agents collided with his vehicle again and then shot him after the car was stopped. After he was shot, he said that an ICE agent entered his vehicle and turned it off. He was then pulled out and told to wait for an ambulance.
“I couldn’t move,” he said in Spanish. “I was practically dizzy.”
The Department of Homeland Security said on Sunday evening that Mr. Garces Perez was in stable condition. He is being held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas, his lawyer said.
On Sunday afternoon, Lisa Davis, the Austin police chief, said at a news conference that the shooting had occurred after a “small foot pursuit.” But Mr. Garces Perez denied that occurred.
Around 8 p.m. Monday, about 250 people gathered in front of the Texas Capitol for a protest in solidarity with Mr. Garces Perez. The gathering was organized by La Frontera Unida, a local immigrants’ rights group that presented three demands: the immediate release of Mr. Garces Perez, the arrest and prosecution of the ICE agent who shot him and an independent investigation of the incident.
Some people in attendance expressed disappointment with the turnout.
“I think we haven’t shown the kind of resistance that we should be showing,” said Kimberly Minn. “Without an immigrant community, we wouldn’t have this state.”
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| Calls for an independent investigation have mounted following the encounter, and politicians have demanded the immediate release of unedited video footage of the incident. |
Six people stand before a blue wall with "Austin" logos. Kirk Watson speaks at a podium with an "Austin" logo; two others wear police uniforms.
Mayor Kirk Watson of Austin speaks during a news conference after a federal immigration agent shot and wounded a man in the city on Sunday.Credit...Sara Diggins/The San Antonio Express-News, via Associated Press
Jose Garza, the district attorney for Travis County, which includes Austin, said his office and the Austin Police Department should be equal partners in the investigation and asked for the federal government to provide access to evidence gathered by D.H.S. and the F.B.I.
Videos of the shooting, which circulated on social media and were verified by The Times, captured audio of sirens blaring and tires screeching before the car driven by Mr. Garces Perez and an unmarked Ford S.U.V. driven by a federal immigration officer were seen. Both vehicles were stopped and facing in opposite directions.
The videos show an officer exiting the driver’s side of the S.U.V. and circling around to the back passenger side of the Toyota. The immigration officer remains to the side of the vehicle as it rolls forward slightly.
Three gunshots can be heard, and the Toyota continues moving forward slowly before coming to a stop. The video then shows the officer running to the driver’s side of the vehicle.
Among those following the noise from the gunshots was a man who identified himself as Carlos, 60, who said he was a naturalized U.S. citizen but declined to give his last name out of fear of retaliation from authorities.
He said he approached the driver, who looked to be in pain. He then noticed a bullet wound on his back.
He said he asked Mr. Garces Perez if he was OK, and Mr. Garces Perez said yes but that he had been shot in the back. He added that Mr. Garces Perez said the officer shot him because he did not hit the brakes.
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