A federal immigration agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan DoorDash driver in a residential area of north Austin on Sept. 20, in the second shooting by an ICE-affiliated agent in Texas this year, according to local officials and the driver’s attorney.
What Happened During the Delivery
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was shot around 1 p.m. while making a delivery for DoorDash, which confirmed he was an active driver for the platform at the time. At least two bullet holes were visible in the passenger side of his vehicle, according to NPR. Garces Perez suffered a torso wound and was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center, where Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said he was listed in “serious but stable” condition.
The Department of Homeland Security separately described him as “stable” and said he is “in federal custody pending removal.”
Who Is Investigating, and Why That Matters
Homeland Security Investigations, a component of ICE, is leading the inquiry into the shooting rather than the FBI, which typically investigates shootings involving federal officers and potential civil rights violations, according to CBS News. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis confirmed local police were not involved in the incident. DHS said it is “leading the investigation” but did not respond to NPR’s or CBS’s requests for further detail on the circumstances of the shooting.
The Driver’s Family Speaks Out
Garces Perez’s attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said he is married to a woman with legal U.S. status and that he called her from the vehicle “yelling in pain” immediately after the shooting. She said the family has since struggled to get information about his condition or custody status: “We have been informed that if he’s in ICE custody, they will decline to confirm that he’s here,” she said.
A Pattern Local Officials Say They Feared
Rep. Greg Casar, whose district includes Austin, said, “The horror has come to our city: ICE has shot a person in Austin this morning,” and separately accused the agency of a broader pattern: “Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened.” He called for “a full, independent investigation” and the “immediate release of body camera footage.
” Mayor Watson said, “Austinites have a right to know what happened,” adding he was “angry and upset” but “not surprised at all,” pointing to similar incidents in Chicago and Minneapolis. City Council member Mike Siegel, who witnessed the scene, said, “This is a terrible incident that we were hoping to avoid in our community,” and added that “if an [ICE] officer committed a crime that they will be fully prosecuted.” State Senate candidate James Talarico said the agencies “cannot be trusted to report all the facts.”
DoorDash’s Position
DoorDash confirmed Garces Perez was an active driver on its platform at the time of the shooting but has not issued a broader statement on the incident or on driver safety amid expanded immigration enforcement in cities where its drivers operate. Gig-economy delivery drivers like Garces Perez typically have no employer-provided legal support or safety protocols for encounters with federal agents during a delivery, since platforms like DoorDash classify drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, a distinction that leaves individual drivers largely on their own in situations like Sunday’s shooting.
The Texas Pattern Behind This Shooting
Sunday’s shooting is the second involving an ICE agent in Texas this year. In July, agents in Houston killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, during a traffic stop in which he was not the intended target. That followed the first fatal ICE shooting of Trump’s second term, the March 2025 killing of Ruben Ray Martinez on South Padre Island. Three shootings involving ICE agents in Texas within roughly 18 months, two of them not involving the person the agents were originally seeking, is the pattern driving local officials’ calls for an investigation independent of the agency whose own personnel fired the shots.
Why an Internal Investigation Raises Questions
HSI investigating a shooting carried out by an ICE-affiliated agent is a departure from the standard federal practice of having the FBI, an agency outside the ICE chain of command, investigate shootings by federal officers. That standard practice exists specifically to avoid the appearance, and the reality, of an agency investigating itself. Casar’s demand for an independent investigation and the release of body camera footage reflects that specific concern, one separate from the underlying question of what led the agent to fire.
Austin’s Position on Federal Immigration Enforcement
Austin has generally positioned itself as a city with limited local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, making Sunday’s shooting, carried out entirely by federal agents without local police involvement, land in a city whose own leadership has repeatedly said it does not direct or assist in this kind of operation. That separation is part of why Mayor Watson and Chief Davis moved quickly to clarify that Austin police had no role in the incident, distancing the city’s own law enforcement from an operation it did not participate in or have advance knowledge of.
What Happens Next
The HSI investigation into the shooting is ongoing, with no timeline announced for its completion. Garces Perez remains hospitalized and in federal custody pending removal proceedings, according to DHS. Local officials, including Casar and Siegel, have called for the release of body camera footage, though DHS has not indicated whether or when that footage will be made public. Lincoln-Goldfinch said she is continuing to seek direct confirmation of her client’s custody status and medical updates on his behalf.
