ICE Officer Shoots and Wounds Delivery Driver in Austin, Reviving Fury Over Federal Immigration Tactics in Texas
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man Sunday afternoon on Austin’s north side, sparking hours of protest and renewed demands from local officials for independent oversight of federal immigration operations in the city.
The man, identified by his attorney as 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez, a Venezuelan national, was shot once in the torso near Anderson Square and U.S. 183 while delivering food, according to his lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.
He was taken to a local hospital in serious but stable condition following a traffic stop, Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said.
Austin City Council Member Mike Siegel arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting. Siegel publicly stated that an ICE vehicle appeared to have rammed the vehicle and alleged an agent opened fire at least five times, pointing to visible bullet holes on the passenger side of the car.
CBS Austin reporter Vinny Martorano said on social media (in a post that has since been deleted) that Siegel told him that “an ICE agent, who is well-known in the city’s Latino community, sideswiped the man’s car. Then the officer got out and shot the driver five times through the windshield.”
Those claims were also later deleted from Siegel’s accounts.
A law enforcement source told NBC News that Garcés Perez was in the country illegally and had a final order of removal. According to his immigration attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, and DoorDash, Garcés Pérez lives in Austin and was working as a DoorDash driver in the middle of making a delivery when the encounter occurred. Federal law enforcement sources indicated ICE agents were seeking to apprehend him regarding an active deportation order.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis confirmed city officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting itself, though the department’s Special Investigations Unit responded to the scene. The Department of Homeland Security did not participate in a City Hall news conference held afterward and did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Protests Erupt at the Scene
A crowd that grew to roughly a hundred people gathered near the shooting site through the afternoon and evening, chanting anti-ICE slogans in English and Spanish and carrying signs reading “Stop ICE murder” and “Nobody is safe.”
A large law enforcement presence, including officers with riot shields, responded, and authorities reportedly deployed non-lethal crowd-control weapons, including pepper balls, as demonstrators were ordered to disperse around 10 p.m. At least one protester was arrested.
City Leaders Demand Answers
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, appearing alongside Chief Davis, said he was “angry” about the shooting but “not surprised,” citing how immigration enforcement has been conducted nationally in recent months.
He called for the Austin Police Department to be included in the investigation to provide “clear, third-party eyes,” saying he does not believe ICE should investigate itself. Watson said residents “have a right to feel safe in their city” and that he did not know whether the agent involved remained in Austin, noting that agents in prior shootings elsewhere in the country have left the jurisdiction shortly afterward.
LOCAL & TEXAS RECATION
Statement from Mayor Pro Tem José “Chito” Vela, Councilwoman Vanessa Fuentes, and Council Member José Velásquez:
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, whose district includes Austin, was among the sharpest critics, writing on social media that “the horror has come to our city” and demanding a full, independent investigation, immediate release of body-camera footage, and accountability for any officer who broke the law.
He argued ICE has “shot people and then lied about what happened” in past incidents and compared the moment to unrest following high-profile police shootings elsewhere in the country.
State-level Republican leaders had not issued statements specific to Sunday’s shooting as of this writing, though Gov. Greg Abbott has previously said that while he supports aggressive immigration enforcement, he expects it to be carried out “without shooting people.”
Part of a Pattern in Texas
Sunday’s shooting is the latest in a string of violent ICE encounters across Texas this year, most notably the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican construction worker, by an ICE officer in Houston on July 7. Salgado Araujo was driving a work crew to a job site when an agent opened fire, alleging he tried to ram the vehicle into officers — an account disputed by passengers in the van. Body cameras were not in use during that shooting, which DHS attributed to equipment shortages tied to a government shutdown.
The Salgado Araujo case drew calls for independent investigations from Houston-area Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, and prompted Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to pursue legal action. Houston City Council member Letitia Plummer compared the fallout to unrest in Minneapolis. Abbott, after an initial week of silence, called the death “tragic” and said Texas expects immigration law to be enforced “without shooting people.”
With two serious ICE-involved shootings of Texas residents in as many months, immigrant-rights advocates say the incidents point to an escalating pattern of aggressive enforcement tactics — and local officials in both Houston and Austin are increasingly pressing for transparency and outside investigations that federal authorities have been slow to provide.
Sources:
- KSAT / Associated Press, “ICE agent shoots and wounds man in Austin, Texas, officials say,” Sept. 20, 2026
- NBC News, “ICE officer shoots Venezuelan man delivering food in Austin, Texas, lawyer says,” Sept. 20, 2026
- Austin American-Statesman, “Protesters gather after ICE agent shoots man in North Austin,” Sept. 20, 2026
- KUT (Austin NPR), “Man injured in shooting by ICE officer in North Austin,” Sept. 20, 2026
- KXAN Austin, “Man shot by ICE identified, attorney says,” Sept. 20, 2026
- CBC News, “ICE agent shot and wounded man in Austin, Texas, officials say,” Sept. 20, 2026
- Wikipedia, “Killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo”
- PBS News, “What to know about the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE,” July 2026
- CNN, “Lorenzo Salgado Araujo: Mexican man fatally shot by ICE was not target of immigration operation, source says,” July 2026
- Houston Public Media, “Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s passengers dispute ICE’s account of his fatal shooting, their attorney says,” July 10, 2026
- Click2Houston, “After week of silence, Gov. Greg Abbott calls fatal ICE shooting ‘tragic,'” July 15, 2026
- Washington Examiner, “Greg Abbott says he expects ICE to operate without fatal shootings after deadly Houston episode,” July 16, 2026
- KEYE/CBS Austin (syndicated), “Family speaks out after fatal ICE shooting as Austin rally calls for transparency”
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Today is a Student Holiday (Yom Kippur) / Professional Learning & Exchange Day (PLED)
Classes will resume as normal on Tuesday, September 22.
However, Additional Day School Year schools (Sanchez, Linder, Wooldridge and Pecan Springs elementary schools and Burnet, Dobie, Mendez and Webb middle schools) will be in session today with early release.
The Texas Education Agency reassigned the failing histories of six recently closed Austin schools to campuses receiving the majority of the shuttered schools’ students, creating new potential paths to state intervention and edging the district even closer to state takeover. (Austin Current)
A 17-year-old was critically injured in Mustang Ridge after an auto-pedestrian crash the occurred in the early hours of Sunday.
The Austin Transit Partnership is set to vote today on a slate of major items that would secure another round of design and construction funds and expand its current downtown headquarters, as it shapes the next chapter to bring Austin’s first light rail to life.
WEATHER
SUNDAY’S HIGH / LOW TEMPERATURES
AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
CAMP MABRY
5-DAY FORECAST / AUSTIN, TEXAS
The Atlantic basin’s first tropical storm in over two weeks has formed.
Tropical Storm Fay was named at 5 a.m. EDT on Sunday and has continued to meander over the open northern Atlantic. It has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and is not expected to have any direct impacts on land.
The Boring Company plans a simple precursor Hyperloop tunnel along the 80-mile corridor, targeting speeds over 200 mph to connect Austin and San Antonio with end-to-end stations. Elon Musk says it could let travelers go from an Austin parking lot to a San Antonio restaurant in under half an hour, easing chronic congestion on Interstate 35. The idea builds on the company’s Vegas Loop success and recent $3 billion funding, though details like route, cost, and permits remain undisclosed.
If Texas Republicans and Democrats agree on only one thing heading into the final six weeks of the midterm elections, it’s that Tarrant County is a key battleground. Austin American-Statesman)
The federal government has announced it will reimburse Texas $7.5 billion for costs associated with state-led border security efforts, ending a 14-month delay since the authorization of the funding.
A San Antonio man has been arrested after investigators say he witnessed a brutal assault and abduction of a 37-year-old man who was later found shot dead in Eastern Bexar County.
Texas gas prices remain below the national average, but soaring diesel costs tied to Middle East tensions are driving economic concerns.
State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, the Democrat who is challenging Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is November, joined The Texan’s Reporter Meridith Dyer to discuss some of the leading issues in Texas like healthcare, education, and THC, as well as the differences between the Texas House and Senate and how she would handle crossing the Capitol rotunda.
SPORTS
NFL: Week 2 of the NFL season delivered contrasting fortunes for Lone Star State football fans, as the Dallas Cowboys bounced back with a decisive home victory while the Houston Texans stumbled into an early-season slump.
Dak Prescott threw four touchdown passes to break Tony Romo’s record of 248, and the Cowboys beat Washington 37-20 on Sunday after the Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels went down with another gruesome-looking dislocated left elbow. (Associated Press via MSN)
For a second straight season, the Houston Texans are winless through the first two weeks after Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Now they’re focused on trying to avoid a second straight 0-3 start.
Ja’Marr Chase caught two touchdown passes from Joe Burrow to lead the Bengals to a 20-6 win over the Houston Texans. (Associated Press via MSN)
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
The NFL is taking its show to South America once again in Week 3, as the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys gear up for a high-profile showdown at Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracanã Stadium.
While both franchises pack plenty of star power for the international stage, the true headline heading into Sunday’s matchup centers on the turf beneath their cleats. The league is actively working to resolve late concerns over the playing surface after local soccer stars publicly panned the field condition as full of “bumps everywhere”. Despite the field scrutiny, the NFL and team officials are moving full steam ahead, preparing two powerhouse franchises to cross borders and kick off one of the marquee non-conference games of the young season.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Texas is still number one.
MLB: Only six games remain. Who wants the American League West?
The Texas Rangers remain one game in the lead after both the Rangers and Houston Astros lost Sunday.
A day off today for both teams.
Our road trip down the Texas stretch of Route 66 continues this week on Texas Country Reporter.
