An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and wounded Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national working as a DoorDash driver, in North Austin just before 1 p.m. on Sept. 20, according to the BBC. He was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the torso, in serious but stable condition. His immigration attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, told reporters he called his wife from the scene while “yelling in pain.”
Investigators say officers had run the license plate on Garcés Pérez’s vehicle during a routine enforcement sweep and gotten a match tied to a standing removal order against him. Officers stopped the vehicle and briefly questioned him. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said she’d heard there was a brief foot pursuit before the shooting, though she stressed the information was still preliminary; Austin police were not involved in the shooting itself and only helped block roads nearby.
The Department of Homeland Security said Garcés Pérez had entered the country illegally and confirmed he was in stable condition and in federal custody pending removal. His attorney has said he entered the country lawfully through a parole program while seeking asylum and holds a valid work permit, and that he has no criminal history. The Travis County District Attorney’s office released its own statement saying it’s requesting that Austin police and the DA’s office be “co-equal partners” in the investigation, and that, as has occurred in other jurisdictions, “it is possible that this incident included violations of state law.”
The mayor wants the city involved in the investigation
By around 4:30 p.m., hospital staff had discharged him straight into ICE‘s hands. His family said they were not told where he was being held until the following day, when his attorney said he had been taken to a detention facility in Pearsall, Texas. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, said residents have a right to know what happened and “a right to feel safe in their city,” and said the city would take part in the investigation.
“They should know the truth,” he said. Watson also said he was “not surprised” by the shooting, citing what he described as ICE’s aggressive tactics, though he called himself “angry” about it. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat representing part of Austin, has demanded an independent investigation, the release of body camera footage, and accountability for any officer found to have broken the law.
He separately said on social media that Garcés Pérez, as a witness to his own shooting, should not be removed from the country before the investigation concludes. The shooting follows two fatal ICE shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, during a federal enforcement operation there, and the death of Houston resident Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot during an ICE traffic stop despite not being the target of any investigation.
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice charged an ICE agent with lying about a separate non-fatal shooting of a Venezuelan migrant in Minnesota, a rare instance of the department accusing one of its own agents of a crime on the job.
Published: Sep 21, 2026 05:40 pm