Austin Mayor Accuses ICE of 'Fomenting' Chaos After Agent Shoots DoorDash Driver

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and seriously wounded a DoorDash driver in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, 20 September, prompting protests and calls for an independent investigation.

The shooting happened in North Austin shortly before 1pm, according to officials. Immigration lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch identified the injured man as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national whom DoorDash confirmed was working as a delivery driver at the time.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said preliminary information indicated that the ICE agent shot Garces Perez following a brief foot pursuit.

The Texas Department of Public Safety separately said troopers had been asked to assist ICE with a vehicle pursuit involving a blue Toyota Corolla but that the shooting occurred before they arrived.

What led to the encounter remains unclear. Federal authorities have not publicly established why Garces Perez came into contact with ICE or whether he was the intended target of the enforcement operation.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson criticised ICE's handling of the incident and called for local authorities to be involved in the investigation, saying he was angry about the shooting but 'not surprised at all'.

ICE Shooting in Austin Followed Vehicle and Foot Pursuits

Witness video from the scene captured tyres screeching and at least three gunshots before they were heard near a damaged blue Toyota Corolla and a dark-coloured SUV.

Footage and photographs taken after the shooting showed significant damage to the Corolla's front passenger-side door and at least two apparent bullet holes in a rear passenger-side window.

Davis said an ICE agent shot Garces Perez during what she described as a 'small foot pursuit', although she cautioned that the information available to Austin police was preliminary.

Reuters reported that Davis had not yet received a full briefing from federal authorities when she spoke publicly about the case.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Sheridan Nolen said ICE requested assistance at about 12.50pm with a pursuit involving a blue Toyota Corolla.

The shooting occurred before state troopers reached the scene. Once they arrived, troopers assisted other law enforcement officers in providing medical treatment to the driver.

Austin-Travis County EMS officials said Garces Perez suffered a gunshot wound to the torso and was taken to a local hospital in serious but stable condition.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garces Perez contacted his wife after he was shot. According to the lawyer, she and his wife later went to the hospital seeking information but were unable to see him.

Lincoln-Goldfinch subsequently said Garces Perez had been released from the hospital into federal custody. The Department of Homeland Security later said he was stable and 'in federal custody pending removal'.

DHS said Garces Perez entered the US illegally during the Biden administration and was subject to a final order of removal.

Lincoln-Goldfinch has offered a different account. She said information available to her office indicated that Garces Perez entered the US lawfully and had previously held a valid work permit. She later told CNN that she could not conclusively confirm his current immigration status.

His wife was also unaware of a final removal order and believed he remained involved in immigration proceedings, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. The differing accounts of his immigration history have not been independently resolved.

Austin Mayor Calls for Independent Scrutiny

Watson said Austin police were not involved in the shooting itself and questioned whether an investigation conducted solely by ICE would have sufficient credibility.

'From my perspective, the credibility of ICE doing some form of an investigation just by itself and excluding others would not be appropriate,' Watson said. He called for Austin police and the Texas Rangers to be involved in examining what happened.

Watson also criticised ICE's recent activity in Austin. Speaking about the shooting, he said he was angry but not surprised, citing 'the nature of ICE and the way ICE is doing its business these days and the chaos that we see it performing and fomenting'.

Watson and Democratic US Rep. Greg Casar, whose district includes parts of Austin, said federal immigration enforcement activity had recently increased in the city, particularly in north-central Austin.

Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of DHS, is leading the federal investigation into the shooting with assistance from the FBI.

The Travis County District Attorney's Office has separately called for an independent investigation and requested that it and the Austin Police Department serve as 'co-equal partners' in the inquiry.

The office also requested federal cooperation in providing access to evidence, saying state laws could be relevant to the investigation.

Casar has separately called for the release of any body-camera footage and demanded what he described as a 'full, independent investigation'.

He also raised concerns about Garces Perez being removed from the US while questions surrounding the shooting remain, arguing that his deportation could deprive investigators of an important witness. Federal authorities have not said publicly whether the ICE officer involved was wearing a body camera.

Protesters Gather Near Austin Shooting Scene

Dozens of protesters gathered near the North Austin scene in the hours after the shooting, carrying signs and flags and chanting against ICE.

The Texas Tribune reported that tensions increased during the demonstration and that officers fired pepper-ball-like projectiles shortly before 6 p.m. after some demonstrators threw rocks and water bottles at law enforcement officers.

The shooting comes amid increased scrutiny of the use of force by federal immigration officers during President Donald Trump's second administration.

A CNN analysis published before Sunday's Austin shooting found that at least 20 people had been shot by on-duty ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents during Trump's second term, eight of them fatally.

In July, an ICE officer fatally shot Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during an immigration enforcement operation in Houston.

The Austin shooting is at least the third involving an ICE officer in Texas since March 2025, according to the Texas Tribune.

The League of United Latin American Citizens also responded to Sunday's shooting by calling for independent oversight of federal immigration enforcement.

'No agency should be the sole judge of its own conduct,' LULAC national president Roman Palomares said in a statement. He argued that investigations and accountability should follow when government actions endanger people's lives.

The circumstances immediately preceding the Austin shooting remain unresolved. Local authorities have repeatedly said their initial information was preliminary, while DHS has provided few public details about how ICE learned of Garces Perez.

Investigators have also not publicly established whether Garces Perez was the intended target of the enforcement operation or what prompted the ICE officer to open fire. Those unanswered questions are now at the centre of demands from Austin officials for an investigation involving authorities outside the federal immigration agency itself.