USA · updated 28m ago · 2 min read
ICE Officers Shoot Venezuelan DoorDash Driver Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in Austin, Texas
ICE officer shot and wounded a 28-year-old Venezuelan DoorDash driver in north Austin. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez is in stable condition with a bullet in his back.
Whether the investigation is led by federal authorities.
10 of 12 outlets skipped it: the victim had a final order of removal.
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Fox News
“DHS announced later Sunday that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from the FBI, is taking the lead on the investigation.”Read the original ↗
BBC
“Local officials are seeking answers from federal authorities, and could not say whether he was a target of ICE.”Read the original ↗
Fox News emphasises a federal HSI lead, while the BBC stresses unanswered local questions about targeting and federal non-response.
Austin shooting, bullet remains
ICE officers shot and wounded Venezuelan DoorDash driver Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in Austin, Texas on Sunday, and Garces Perez later told reporters from a federal detention facility that a bullet is still lodged near his spine. Garces Perez said he was delivering for DoorDash when an SUV rode next to him and tried to hit him, and he told reporters that the ICE officer told him “no” when he asked to pull over so they could detain him.
Garces Perez told reporters in Spanish through an interpreter, “I am not doing well due to the gunshot wound, and I have not received the medical attention that I require,” and he said doctors left a bullet inside his body because it was close to his spine. Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said she was able to speak to Garces Perez after previously not being told of his whereabouts, and she said he was taken to Pearsall detention facility 130 miles from Austin around 4 a.m. on Monday.
Protests and competing accounts
Protesters gathered in Austin after the shooting, and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said he was “very angry and extremely disappointed that a person was shot in the streets of Austin by ICE.” Garces Perez told reporters there was “no foot chase,” and he said he “never got out of the vehicle until he had to get out of the vehicle.”
The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on social media saying, “Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is leading the investigation into the officer involved shooting,” and it said the man’s condition is stable and he is in federal custody pending removal. Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garces Perez called his wife while “yelling in pain” in hospital, and the BBC reported that local officials sought answers from federal authorities and could not say whether he was a target of ICE.B
Investigation, custody, and next steps
Garces Perez’s attorney said he was taken to the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, about 130 miles southwest of Austin, and she said he was undergoing questioning by agents.
Garces Perez told reporters, “The bullet is still in there,” and he said a nurse gave him a pill, that was all, while activists and lawyers demanded he be sent to a hospital to receive treatment for his wounds.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar described Garces Perez’s return to a hospital as a positive first step, and he said, “Now, we have to make sure he fully recovers, is reunited with his family, and gets to tell law enforcement the full story of how he was shot in the back by ICE.”
The Department of Homeland Security said it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man in the U.S. illegally who “had a final order of removal,” and it said the illegal alien’s condition is stable and he is in federal custody pending removal.