Federal Immigration Agent Shoots and Injures Man in Austin, Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal immigration agent shot and injured a 28-year-old Venezuelan man, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, during an operation in Austin on Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Monday.

DHS said in a statement that it is leading the investigation into the officer-involved shooting and that the man's condition was stable. He was "in federal custody pending removal," the statement said.

The man was identified by his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, who told NPR that Perez is married to a woman with legal status in the U.S. Lincoln-Goldfinch said her husband called her from the hospital to tell her he had been shot inside his car and was yelling in pain.

"We were told that he was at this hospital, so we came back and they have run us off the property," she said, referring to Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin.

Austin Councilmember Mike Siegel, whose home is blocks from the scene, told NPR he saw that the man's car had at least two bullet holes in the passenger side. At least one person in civilian clothes who appeared to be uninjured was placed in handcuffs on the scene, according to video Siegel provided.

"This is a terrible incident that we were hoping to avoid in our community," Siegel said. "My hope today is that we can investigate what happened, and if an ICE officer committed a crime that they will be fully prosecuted."

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said Perez was in serious but stable condition and that he was "not surprised at all" by the incident, noting similar encounters in Chicago and Minneapolis where DHS has conducted large immigration enforcement operations.

Congressman Greg Casar, a Democrat representing Austin, demanded an independent investigation, referencing the deadly Minneapolis shooting of Renee Good earlier this year. Video footage has since contradicted DHS's account of that incident.

This is at least the second shooting involving ICE agents in Texas this year. In July, federal agents in Houston shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, during a traffic stop for a warrant he was not the target of. The first person killed by immigration agents since President Trump took office for his second term was Ruben Ray Martinez in South Padre Island on March 15, 2025.

Reporting by NPR. Read the original report: Federal immigration agent shoots and injures man in Austin, Texas.