ICE-involved shooting in Texas as outraged Democrats demand probe and protests erupt
- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
By SOPHIA BAUM
Published: | Updated:
An ICE agent shot and seriously wounded a man in Austin on Sunday - triggering a standoff, clashes with police and demands from a Democratic congressman for an independent investigation.
The dramatic confrontation unfolded shortly before 1pm beneath an overpass in north Austin, after the federal immigration agent became involved in a traffic stop and brief foot pursuit, according to preliminary accounts from local officials.
The man, identified by his attorney as 29-year-old Venezuelan national Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, was rushed to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his torso and was reported to be in serious but stable condition.
Photos taken exclusively by the Daily Mail show a small blue Toyota sedan with bullet holes riddling the passenger-side door, surrounded by police tape beneath the highway overpass.
Witnesses told local NPR affiliate KUT that they heard gunshots and encountered an ICE agent alongside a man who appeared to have been shot in the back.
That account has not been independently established by authorities, who have said the investigation is still in its early stages.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said that the incident may have involved a foot pursuit, but stressed that authorities had only limited information and that the investigation was continuing. Austin police were not involved in the shooting itself.
Onlookers told the Daily Mail that the man took off on foot after his car rolled to a halt and was subsequently shot.
Police in Austin were locked in a standoff on Sunday evening with a squad of rock-hurling protesters, enraged after a Venezuelan man Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was shot - allegedly in the back - by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers
Photos exclusively taken by the Daily Mail show the small blue Toyota sedan the man had been traveling in when chased by ICE with bullet holes riddling the passenger door
Onlookers told the Daily Mail that the man - who is understood to be a Venezuelan illegal immigrant - took off on foot after his car rolled to a halt and was subsequently shot
At least one person in civilian clothes who appeared to be uninjured was put in handcuffs on the scene, according to Austin Council member Mike Siegel.
The shooting rapidly became the focus of anger in the Texas capital. As the evening drew in, a crowd of protesters - many waving Mexican flags - gathered on one side of the overpass, screaming ‘F*** ICE’ and demanding to know if the ICE agent in question had been arrested.
Many also started hurling rocks and water bottles at a squad of riot police sent in by the Austin Police Department, with cops firing pepper balls at the protesters in response.
Local reporting said officers later used chemical agents to disperse the crowd.
The confrontation came as questions mounted over what exactly happened during the federal operation - and why the man was shot.
Democratic Rep. Greg Casar, who represents Austin, demanded an independent investigation and called for the immediate release of body-camera footage.
'As the facts emerge, I am demanding a full, independent investigation, immediate release of the body camera footage, and accountability for any ICE officer who broke the law,' Casar said in a statement reported by CBS News.
'Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened,' Casar said, referencing the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson also called for local police to have a role in the investigation, saying he wanted a third-party examination of the incident rather than having ICE investigate itself.
At a press conference that took place earlier today, Watson said Perez was in serious but stable condition.
The incident has already drawn comparisons with other recent Texas shootings involving federal immigration agents, including the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston in July. That case remains under investigation.
'This is a pattern. This is a disturbing pattern,' said Casar.
Federal authorities had not released a full account of the encounter as of Sunday evening.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.