Austin ICE Shooting Victim Identified; Attorney Says He Was Moved Into ICE Custody

Attorney identifies the wounded man and says he entered apparent ICE custody

AUSTIN, Texas — An attorney for the man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer identified him Sunday night as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national. Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told CBS News that Garces Perez called his wife from Dell Seton Medical Center while in severe pain.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garces Perez was released from the hospital into what the legal team believes is ICE custody. She said officers provided his wife little meaningful information for roughly six hours and that the family still lacked a clear update about his condition and whereabouts. Those details are the attorney's account; ICE had not publicly confirmed the custody transfer or responded to CBS with its own account.

Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said responders were called shortly before 1 p.m. to the 8000 block of Anderson Square. Garces Perez was shot at least once in the torso and was described as serious but stable. Police Chief Lisa Davis said the shooting followed a traffic stop and possible brief foot pursuit. Austin police were not part of the federal operation and did not fire the shot.

Federal sources and the attorney give different pieces of the immigration-status record

Federal law-enforcement sources told CBS News that ICE agents were seeking Garces Perez and described him as a Venezuelan man living in the country unlawfully with a deportation order. Lincoln-Goldfinch said the available information indicates that he entered the United States lawfully, but she did not state his present immigration status. Lawful entry and a later removal order are not necessarily contradictory, and no underlying immigration filing or order was published with the report.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security still had not publicly described the officer's reason for firing Sunday night. They also had not released body-camera video, the officer's name, the duration of the pursuit, or any allegation that Garces Perez possessed a weapon or threatened an officer.

That absence does not prove the shooting was unlawful, and the fact that an officer fired does not by itself establish legal justification. It means the public record is incomplete at the point when the use of force is receiving national attention.

The Associated Press and CBS reported a dark-blue Toyota Corolla at the scene with apparent bullet damage. A damaged vehicle is physical evidence, but photographs alone cannot establish the direction of fire, the positions of the officer and Garces Perez, or what happened immediately before the shooting.

HSI is reported to lead the federal investigation

Multiple U.S. officials told CBS News that Homeland Security Investigations, a component of ICE, will lead the investigation and that the FBI will assist. Austin's special investigations unit was processing the scene Sunday, and Davis said local investigators were communicating with HSI. Earlier reports said the Texas Rangers were also expected to participate.

Mayor Kirk Watson called for local participation so the federal agency would not investigate its own officer without outside scrutiny. HSI's reported lead role therefore does not satisfy the mayor's request by itself, although FBI, Austin police or Texas Rangers participation could provide additional review depending on their authority and access to evidence.

The agencies' involvement is a starting point, not a guarantee that every record will become public. The exact division of responsibility, evidence-sharing rules and timetable for releasing video or findings remain unspecified.

Witness descriptions are evidence leads, not final findings

KUT reported that two people near the North Austin scene said they heard two shots. One witness told the station the man appeared to have been shot from behind. That is an attributed eyewitness account, not a medical finding or a completed trajectory analysis, and What’s the Scoop With Broach cannot independently verify the witness's angle or line of sight.

Austin City Council member Mike Siegel separately alleged that an ICE officer rammed Garces Perez's car and fired at least five times after leaving a federal vehicle. That assertion has not been confirmed by ICE, a released video or a completed forensic review, and it differs from the two-shot witness recollection. Both accounts should be tested against physical and digital evidence.

Officials described at least one torso wound, but the reviewed public statements do not establish how many rounds were fired or the bullet's direction. Scene measurements, medical records, firearms evidence, body-camera footage and any nearby surveillance video will be more probative than early impressions.

Roughly 100 protesters gathered near the scene, according to the Associated Press. Their presence shows the public reaction; it does not supply evidence about the split-second encounter itself.

What remains unknown

No charging decision or formal finding of misconduct has been announced. Describing the shooting as justified, criminal or accidental would go beyond the evidence publicly available Sunday night.

• The precise legal and factual basis for the traffic stop and how agents planned to execute the reported deportation order.
• What the officer says prompted the use of deadly force and whether the officer perceived a weapon or immediate threat.
• How many shots were fired, from what positions and whether every round has been accounted for.
• Whether body cameras, vehicle cameras, private surveillance systems or bystander videos recorded the encounter.
• The officer's duty status while the investigation proceeds and whether the officer remains in Austin.
• Garces Perez's current medical condition, confirmed place of custody and access to his family and attorneys.
• The immigration records underlying the federal sources' description of a deportation order and the attorney's statement that he entered lawfully.

The records that can resolve competing accounts

A credible investigation should preserve and reconcile dispatch logs, radio traffic, body-camera files, surveillance video, the officer's weapon, cartridge cases, the vehicle, medical findings and statements from every officer and civilian witness. Timestamps and chain-of-custody records will show whether evidence was secured before accounts hardened into competing public narratives.

The next material update should come from evidence, not political certainty. A named lead investigator, a clear use-of-force account, the release or legal explanation for withholding video, and a documented review by a prosecutor or outside agency would materially advance what the public knows.

What’s the Scoop With Broach will update this report when officials release the ICE account, video, Garces Perez's confirmed condition and custody location, the involved officer's status, or an investigative finding.

About the image

The accompanying image is an authentic January 2018 photograph of an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer in Philadelphia. Charles Reed of ICE Public Affairs made the image as part of official federal duties, and Wikimedia Commons records it as public domain in the United States.

The photograph provides institutional context only. It does not depict Austin, the man who was shot, the involved officer, Sunday's traffic stop, the vehicle or evidence from the investigation.