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By Giulia Carbonaro and Hollie Silverman
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The person shot and wounded by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on Sunday while delivering food for DoorDash in Austin, Texas, has been identified as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan man.
The shooting took place before 1 p.m. local time near Anderson Square and Research Boulevard, in the city’s north side, though many of the details of the incident remain to be clarified. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said that the city’s police officers were not involved in the shooting.
During a news conference on Sunday, Chief of Austin-Travis County EMS Robert Luckritz said he believes the man was shot once in the torso. He was transported to Dell Seton Medical Center and was listed in serious but stable condition.
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Since Sunday, Garces Perez has been discharged and is being held at an immigration detention center, according to his attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.
"A federal judge has granted my emergency order to stop Wilber’s deportation," Lincoln-Goldfinch said in a post on X Tuesday.
She said that her client was returned to detention after being hospitalized and unable to move his left side due to the bullet lodged near his spine.
Lincoln-Goldfinch also revealed Tuesday in a post on X that the ICE agent who shot her client was a recent hire who was not wearing a body camera. She said the agent was hired last year.
In a video statement emailed to Newsweek Monday night, Davis said the department is conducting a thorough investigation into the shooting, as investigators gather physical evidence, review video footage, interview witnesses and work with federal, state and local partners to determine what occurred.
She urged anyone with photos, videos or information to come forward, stressing that investigators will follow the evidence rather than speculation. Davis also said Austin police will continue to provide updates as information is verified and legally releasable.
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Who Is Wilber Rafael Garces Perez?
His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, named Garces Perez. She said he was working for DoorDash at the time of the shooting, and said he called his wife from his car while "yelling in pain."
DoorDash confirmed to Newsweek that Garces Perez was making a delivery at the time of the shooting. It said the company is actively investigating the incident but has no additional details to share. DoorDash also said all Dashers are independent contractors, not employees.
Lincoln-Goldfinch told the outlet that Garces Perez was released from Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas on Sunday night.
"He is being held at Pearsall for interrogation and still has the bullet lodged in his body," the attorney said in a post on X Monday, adding, "He’s received no pain medication and had to sleep on the floor."
In another post responding to comments on social media, she said, "He entered lawfully and has a valid work permit."
"Wilber entered through CBPOne seeking asylum. He was inspected and entered lawfully through a port of entry," she explained in another post, adding, "He was issued a valid work permit. The issue regarding the deportation order is that he moved and changed addresses."
"There was a notice for a hearing sent to the wrong address that he missed, which is VERY common. We are working on that. He will be released from detention, his immigration matter will be resolved, and the agencies will be held accountable," Lincoln-Goldfinch said in the post.
Newsweek reached out to her via email on Monday for further comment.
She told NPR that Garces Perez is married to a woman with legal status in the United States.
NBC quoted Lincoln-Goldfinch as saying that Garces Perez was an asylum seeker who entered the U.S. through a parole program.
She said Garces Perez has no criminal history and has lived in Austin for roughly two years, according to the Austin American-Statesman. His wife has only been identified by the attorney as "Elizdar."
According to a Facebook profile appearing to belong to Garces Perez, he comes from Yaritagua, a city of roughly 120,000 people in the Venezuelan state of Yaracuy.
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What Happened?
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson called Garces Perez an "illegal alien" in a statement to Newsweek, saying: "Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is leading the investigation into the officer involved [in the] shooting of an illegal alien from Venezuela, who illegally entered our country under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal, during a law enforcement operation today in Austin, TX.
"The illegal alien’s condition is stable, and he is in federal custody pending removal. This is a developing situation, and we will update the public when more information becomes available."
In a video shared on Instagram on Sunday evening, Lincoln-Goldfinch said that Garces Perez’s wife spent hours between the hospital and the scene of the incident on the day trying to find out what had happened to her husband. They were "run off the property by six officers," the attorney said, referring to the hospital grounds.
In a follow-up video, Lincoln-Goldfinch mentioned seeing images of Garces Perez suggesting he was shot in the back of the neck.
“There are not a lot of facts that I can give you at this point,” Davis said, adding that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which is leading the investigation, “have promised what they can give us as far as cooperation, they will do that.”
She added: “The city of Austin deserves answers for what occurred, the mayor is demanding some answers, the city managers want answers, and we’re gonna get all these questions answered.”
Davis also said she heard that there was a “small foot pursuit” ahead of the shooting, though she admitted to not having the full details on the incident yet.
A woman driving by the site of the incident was filming herself in her car just as ICE officers appeared to be approaching Garces Perez’s car. In her footage, what appear to be multiple gunshots can be heard. It shows an unmarked SUV stopping near the blue Toyota Corolla seen in other images of the shooting and believed to belong to Garces Perez. An ICE agent can be seen coming out of the SUV and running toward the Corolla with a firearm; the blue car is still slowly rolling forward but stops once approached by the officer.
Photos taken after the incident shared by news agencies show a visibly damaged blue Corolla with apparent bullet holes on the passenger-side door, while ICE agents are standing nearby and preventing demonstrators gathering at the scene from passing through.
Reaction to the Shooting
U.S. Representative Greg Casar, who represents Texas’ 35th Congressional District, which includes East Austin, called on social media to prevent the removal of Garces Perez from the country.
"If ICE deports him, the key witness to their shooting disappears. He must not be removed from this country, and he must receive proper medical care," he wrote on X.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson helped Garces Perez’s wife and attorney get information on his well-being, going to the hospital where he was being treated and eventually letting them know he was stable, according to Lincoln-Goldfinch.
Watson, a Democrat, said that he was "very angry and extremely disappointed that a person was shot on the streets of Austin by ICE," adding, however, that he was not surprised. Mentioning the "rogue nature of ICE," the mayor called for the Austin police to be involved in the investigation, saying he wants them to provide "clear, third-party eyes" in the process.
Austin council members Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez and José “Chito” Vela have signed a joint statement calling for ICE to leave the city.
“We have no confidence in an internal investigation from DHS or DOJ. We urge APD to immediately open an independent investigation, with a review of the evidence by the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, as is the protocol in other police shootings. The people of Austin deserve answers, and we demand full transparency and accountability,” they wrote.
“No federal agency is above scrutiny when the safety and rights of our community are at stake. ICE must stop terrorizing our communities.”
ICE Shootings
Protesters gathered at the site of the incident on Sunday holding signs calling for "Justice for Wilber" and "ICE out of Austin." Social media videos show demonstrators waving the Argentinian and Mexican flags in solidarity with the Venezuelan man, as the Latin American community has been hit hard by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The role played by ICE in helping President Donald Trump keep his campaign promise of enacting the "largest mass deportation program in history" has come under intense scrutiny this year, especially after the fatal shooting of Renée Good in January.
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Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by an ICE agent on January 7 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On January 24, after Good’s killing had sparked nationwide protest, another 37-year-old U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, was shot and killed by federal border officers, also in Minneapolis.
Since then, several more cases of people shot and wounded, or shot and killed, by ICE agents have emerged, including in Texas. On July 7, an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, in Houston as he was driving a work van carrying three men to a construction job. Federal agents in unmarked SUVs pursued the van and, after stopping it, an ICE officer shot Salgado Araujo. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died. The three men traveling with him were detained by immigration authorities.
According to DHS, which oversees ICE, Salgado Araujo attempted to ram an ICE vehicle and “weaponized” his van in an attempt to run over an agent, prompting the officer to fire in self-defense. The three passengers, Salgado Araujo’s family and local officials disputed that account. Available surveillance footage has raised further questions about the federal account, although no video has emerged that clearly shows the moment of the shooting.
Six days after Salgado Araujo’s killing, a 25-year-old Colombian man, Johan Sebastián, was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine, during a traffic stop. His car was hit by bullets five times, and he was struck in the head and pronounced dead at the scene.
David Brouillette, the officer who shot him, was "fearing for public safety" when he opened fire, according to DHS. Several of his family members later spoke to news media about Brouillette’s struggles with mental health and alleged history of domestic abuse.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes, Tony Phillips and Sam Wilson.
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