Overview
- The shooting occurred on Sunday, Sept. 20, when an ICE agent fired at 28-year-old delivery driver Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez during an enforcement incident in north Austin, leaving him wounded in the torso and taken to Dell Seton Medical Center.
- Accounts of what led to the shooting conflict: city officials described a possible short foot pursuit while witnesses and a city councilmember said a dark federal vehicle struck Garcés’s car and an agent then fired multiple rounds, and verified videos show a damaged blue Toyota with apparent bullet impacts.
- Hours after being released from hospital care, Garcés was placed in ICE custody and held at a South Texas processing center in Pearsall, and his attorney says he still had a bullet lodged in his body and faced limited medical access.
- The Department of Homeland Security says HSI is leading the probe with FBI assistance, but Austin officials, the Travis County prosecutor and members of Congress have demanded an independent, transparent review and access to body‑worn camera and operational records.
- The case has sparked street protests and renewed scrutiny of heightened ICE enforcement after prior deadly encounters in Texas, raising pressure for federal oversight changes and for safeguards that would keep a key wounded witness from being deported while investigators work.