A federal immigration officer shot and wounded a 28-year-old Venezuelan man during an enforcement stop in north Austin, touching off protests, a Homeland Security Investigations review, and demands from Texas Democrats for immediate answers.
A federal immigration officer shot and wounded a man in north Austin on Sunday afternoon, an encounter that is now the subject of a federal review and a fast-moving political fight in Texas. The man, identified by his attorney as 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez of Venezuela, was struck once in the torso and taken to a hospital in serious but stable condition before federal authorities took him into custody. Austin police were not part of the operation and did not fire a weapon. Within hours, the Department of Homeland Security announced that Homeland Security Investigations would lead the inquiry into the shooting, with the FBI assisting.
The shooting occurred shortly before 1 p.m. Central time near Research Boulevard and Anderson Square, a commercial stretch that runs beneath a highway overpass on the city's north side. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said the encounter began with a traffic stop and may have included a short foot pursuit, but she cautioned that the early details were preliminary.
The man was hit once in the upper torso. Austin-Travis County emergency medical services chief Robert Luckritz described his condition as serious at a Sunday news conference. Mayor Kirk Watson said hours later that the man had stabilized. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said he was making a DoorDash delivery when federal agents confronted him, and that he called his wife from inside the vehicle while yelling in pain. DoorDash said it was looking into the incident.
By Sunday evening the man had been released from Dell Seton Medical Center into federal custody. His attorney said the family had been kept away from the hospital and had not received a meaningful update on his condition or his whereabouts during roughly six hours of initial detention.
Bystander video showed a dark blue sedan parked under the overpass with damage to its side and what appeared to be bullet holes. Austin City Council member Mike Siegel, who represents the district, alleged that an officer rammed the man's car before firing at least five shots. Federal authorities have not confirmed that account.
In a statement issued late Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security said the man entered the country illegally during the previous administration and that his condition had stabilized. The department said the shooting took place during a law enforcement operation and that federal authorities are seeking his removal. It did not say how he came onto the agency's radar.
Putting Homeland Security Investigations in charge keeps the review inside the department that employs the officer. The FBI has historically handled assaults on federal officers and, alongside the Justice Department, potential civil rights violations tied to deadly force by law enforcement. Federal officials said HSI would lead the case with FBI support. Officers accused of misconduct in such cases have not been insulated from charges: an ICE officer faced federal charges for lying to investigators in a Minneapolis shooting case earlier this month.
Austin police and the Texas Rangers also intend to take part in the investigation, Davis said. Watson said the city's police department should be involved so residents get "clear, third-party eyes" on the process, and argued that an agency should not investigate a shooting by one of its own officers. Asked whether the officer involved was still in Texas, the mayor said he did not know, but hoped the agent would remain in the city while the case moves forward.
Rep. Greg Casar, whose district covers parts of Austin, described the shooting as horror and demanded a full, independent investigation, the immediate release of any body camera footage, and accountability for any officer who broke the law. Rep. Joaquin Castro joined the call for a probe and for footage to be made public.
James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Texas' U.S. Senate seat this November, said the agency "cannot be trusted to report all the facts" and asked for an independent review that includes any available video. Watson told reporters he was angry but not surprised, and said Austin residents have a right to know what happened.
None of the officials who spoke Sunday said they had reviewed the investigative file, interviewed the officer involved, or watched the footage they are pressing to release. Federal authorities have not published a detailed account of what prompted the shooting.
Dozens of protesters gathered at the intersection through the afternoon, and the crowd grew to roughly a hundred by evening. Austin officers fired pepper-ball projectiles after demonstrators threw rocks and water bottles as law enforcement began clearing the area. City officials said Austin police arrived after the shooting and provided first aid to the wounded man.
The immediate question is what the review produces and how quickly. Investigators will need to establish the sequence of the traffic stop, what the officer who fired perceived, and whether any recording of the encounter exists. Federal officials will also face pressure over how much of the file is released before the inquiry closes.
The case also sits on top of a policy shift that has reshaped immigration enforcement over the past year. The previous administration granted temporary immigration protections to nationals of several countries whose governments would not safely accept returns, Venezuela among them. The current administration ended those protections and directed enforcement toward people who had received them, arguing that the programs were stretched far beyond their original purpose and that removal orders have to mean something.
Context matters here. The shooting is at least the third time an ICE agent has shot someone in Texas since March 2025, and it comes roughly two months after a fatal federal immigration shooting in Houston. Austin has seen a rise in immigration operations in recent weeks, the mayor said, and Texas is in the middle of a Senate race in which enforcement and sanctuary policies are central issues.
For an administration that has made enforcement of the nation's immigration laws a defining promise, each of these incidents arrives with a political fight already attached. The measure of the response will be whether the investigation moves quickly, whether findings are made public, and whether the officers involved are held to the same standard the department applies to the people it arrests.
A federal immigration officer shot and wounded a 28-year-old Venezuelan man during an enforcement stop in north Austin, touching off protests, a Homeland Security Investigations review, and demands from Texas Democrats for immediate answers.
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