ICE Agent Shoots a Delivery Driver in North Austin as Texas Officials Demand a Say in the Investigation

An ICE agent shot a Venezuelan food-delivery driver at a North Austin intersection on Sunday afternoon. Within hours, the Travis County district attorney, the mayor of Austin and a sitting congressman were asking the same question: who gets to investigate it?

ICE Agent Shoots a Delivery Driver in North Austin as Officials Demand a Say

Austin, Texas — Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was hit once in the torso at the intersection of Anderson Square and Research Boulevard. He was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas and released into federal custody a few hours later. He was still in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on Monday pending removal, the Department of Homeland Security said. The agent who fired has not been named, and no footage has been released.

What Happened at Anderson Square

An ICE agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan food-delivery driver in North Austin on Sunday, September 20, 2026. The man was hit once in the torso at the intersection of Anderson Square and Research Boulevard, near West Anderson Lane and U.S. 183.

Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said medics were notified at about 12:56 p.m. and arrived within three and a half minutes. They found an adult man with a gunshot wound to the torso and took him to a local trauma center in serious but stable condition. He was moved from the scene within nine minutes of the crews' arrival.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said preliminary information indicated a brief "small foot pursuit" before the shooting. She had not yet received a full briefing from federal authorities.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Sheridan Nolen said DPS received a call around 12:50 p.m. from ICE officials requesting help pursuing a blue Toyota Corolla. Before troopers arrived, an ICE agent had shot a man. A dark blue Toyota Corolla was later found parked under the overpass, with damage to its passenger-side door and what appeared to be bullet holes.

Two Accounts of One Man

The man was identified by his lawyer, Austin immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, a Venezuelan national. She said he lives in Austin and works as a DoorDash driver, and that he was in the middle of a delivery when he was shot. DoorDash confirmed to CBS that he was delivering food for the company at the time.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said he had a valid work permit and entered the U.S. legally. NBC reports she said he was an asylum seeker who entered through a parole program. She said his wife has legal status in the U.S. and indicated he had no criminal history. She later told the Associated Press she did not know his current immigration status.

The Department of Homeland Security gave a different account. DHS said he "illegally entered our country under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal." DHS said he is "in federal custody pending removal."

Officials have not confirmed the circumstances leading to the shooting, whether the man was the target of an ICE operation, or any criminal background beyond an immigration violation. No arrests have been reported.

A Family Kept in the Dark

Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garces Perez called his wife at 12:30 to tell her he had been shot. "And he was yelling in agony, and the call cut off," the lawyer said. "That was all she knew."

He was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas, where Lincoln-Goldfinch waited with his wife for word of his condition. They were escorted from the premises. "We not only were lied to and told that he wasn't there, but we were thrown off the hospital grounds by several officers who treated us as trespassers."

Mayor Kirk Watson arrived hours later and had a hospital administrator call them. The hospital's attorney told the wife just before 7 p.m. that he had been in ICE custody for several hours already.

By Sunday night the lawyer still had not located him in the ICE system. "No one has told me or Wilber's wife what the treatment was or how he's doing," she said. DHS said Monday his condition was "stable." The hospital declined to comment.

DHS said he remains in federal custody pending removal. Rep. Greg Casar called that the problem. "If ICE deports him, the key witness to their shooting disappears," he said. "He must not be removed from this country, and he must receive proper medical care."

Who Investigates Whom

DHS said Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is leading the investigation into the officer-involved shooting. The White House referred NBC News to DHS for comment.

The Austin Police Department's Special Investigations Unit, which investigates officer-involved shootings, was at the scene. APD and the Texas Rangers are expected to conduct their own investigations. Chief Davis said she had spoken with the Texas Rangers and Homeland Security Investigations officials, who promised to cooperate with local investigators.

The Travis County District Attorney's Office requested that APD and the DA be "co-equal partners" in the investigation. "It is critical that all the facts come to light and that an independent investigation be completed," the office said, adding that "it is possible that this incident included violations of state law."

Mayor Watson said he wants APD involved so the department can offer "clear third-party eyes and expertise." He said the credibility of ICE investigating alone "would not be appropriate." Council Member Mike Siegel alleged that for several hours after the shooting, federal agents and state police kept Austin officers from conducting a crime scene investigation.

The Agent Nobody Can Locate

The ICE agent who fired has not been publicly identified, and no federal official has described his account of what happened. Officials have not confirmed what the man was doing in the seconds before he was hit.

Asked where the agent is, Mayor Watson said: "We do not know that." He added: "My hope would be that an agent that's involved in an officer-involved shooting would not leave the city; certainly not leave the state." The question was put to the mayor because agents have left states after previous shootings nationwide.

Council Member Siegel called for the agent's detention. "We demand either DPS or APD detain the ICE officer in question, and that this be done immediately to avoid a flight from justice," he said. "I'm disgusted and enraged that ICE has shot yet another civilian, this time right here in our own community," he added, noting the shooting occurred six blocks from his home.

Austin police officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting. APD officers helped block roads and direct traffic.

A Night of Tear Gas in North Austin

Demonstrators gathered at the scene Sunday afternoon and evening, next to an elevated stretch of Highway 183, shouting anti-ICE slogans in English and Spanish. Some carried signs reading "Stop ICE murder," "Moms against ICE" and "Abolish ICE." Some waved the flags of Mexico and Guatemala.

Just before 6 p.m., officers shot pepper ball-like projectiles at the crowd after some demonstrators threw rocks and water bottles at law enforcement as some were preparing to leave. A 14-year-old boy was among those affected by the chemical, his father told Austin police.

Late Sunday night the gathering grew tense, and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers responded by deploying tear gas and, in some instances, tackling protesters. Protesters had dispersed and troopers appeared to have exited the area by 11 p.m. local time.

After law enforcement left, protesters blocked Research Boulevard and Anderson Square. Traffic backed up along Research Boulevard; some drivers told CBS Austin it took as long as 20 minutes to get through. One woman who said she has lived in Austin for 33 years told NBC News she had never witnessed an incident like this and it "broke my heart."

The Surge the Mayor Saw Coming

Mayor Watson said the shooting took place during a "significant increase, almost overnight" of ICE operations in the Texas capital. He said he was "not surprised at all" given "the nature of ICE and the way ICE is doing its business these days."

"I am very angry and extremely disappointed that a person was shot on the streets of Austin by ICE," the mayor said.

A DHS spokesperson put it differently. The agency enforces federal immigration law "in cities like Austin whether pro-criminal illegal alien politicians like it or not," the spokesperson said, adding: "ICE will not be slowing down."

Rep. Greg Casar said ICE arrests have increased three to four times the usual number in recent days, in several areas including North Central Austin, South Austin and Southeast Austin. His office has submitted a formal inquiry to DHS on the ICE activity.

Three construction workers were arrested in an immigration enforcement operation outside Austin City Hall that interrupted a budget meeting. Council Members Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez and Zohaib "Zo" Qadri said DPS troopers and ICE agents made a traffic stop that led to the arrests. "We condemn this weaponization of law enforcement in the strongest possible terms," they said.

The Houston Precedent

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, a Mexican national, was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Houston on July 7, 2026, during an attempted traffic stop to conduct an immigration arrest. He was in his work van in Houston's Magnolia Park on his way to work.

DHS said he was in the country illegally and tried to run over agents, and has not provided evidence of its claim. His family disputes the account; the three men he was driving said he was shot through a passenger window and that the officer who fired was not in front of the van. He was not the target of an ICE investigation, according to DHS.

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said prosecutors intend to bring several witnesses in the deadly Houston shooting before a grand jury "fairly soon." His office has sent a letter to federal officials requesting that witnesses not be deported.

The AP reports Sunday's shooting is now at least the third instance of an ICE officer shooting a person in Texas since March 2025. Nationally, it landed in the middle of the largest enforcement surge in the agency's history: ICE recorded more than 50,000 arrests a month in July and August, the first time it has crossed that mark.

The Letter to Washington

Rep. Casar wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting ICE director David Venturella seeking a congressional briefing by September 28. He asked the agencies to publicly release all body and dash camera footage from federal officers present at the scene and recorded communications between agents before and after the shooting.

"Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened," Casar said. "We can see the lies with our own eyes. We will demand truth, transparency and accountability." He called for independent fact-finding and said ICE should end what he described as a surge of agents in Austin.

Rep. Joaquin Castro demanded "full accountability." James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for a Texas U.S. Senate seat, said he was "closely following" the reports and requested an investigation and all available footage. "Previous incidents have shown that this agency cannot be trusted to report all the facts," he said.

The League of United Latin American Citizens called on Congress to establish independent oversight of immigration enforcement. LULAC President Roman Palomares emphasised the need for accountability when constitutional rights are violated.

The Footage Nobody Has Seen

NBC News verified a social media video that captures the sound of tires screeching followed by a person exiting a dark-colored SUV as a blue sedan is stopped next to it, both vehicles facing one another. At least three gunshots are heard as the person approaches the sedan and runs up to it as it slowly lurches forward. The person is standing next to the sedan's driver's side as it stops in front of an intersection.

KUT News reported that two people who work at a nearby business said they heard two gunshots and went to see what happened. One witness encountered an ICE agent and a man in a car who had been shot in the back. The witness said he asked if an ambulance had been called and the agent said "yes."

EMS Chief Luckritz could not say whether the man was shot in the back. KSAT reported conflicting accounts about whether Garces Perez was inside a vehicle or on foot.

DHS has not provided any information about whether the ICE agent involved was wearing a body camera, and no federal footage has been released. Until it is, the public record of what happened at Anderson Square rests on a bystander video, two witnesses who spoke to KUT News, and the statements of the agencies conducting the inquiry.

By Jessica Ali, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: Austin American-Statesman, CBS Austin, Fox 7 Austin, NBC News, TIME, France 24/AFP, Euronews, the Texas Tribune, KUT News, KSAT, the BBC, The Hill, CNN, USA TODAY, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Newsweek, ABC13 Houston, KXAN, the Travis County District Attorney's Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Austin-Travis County EMS, the Austin Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security, DoorDash and the office of attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.