{"id":444974,"date":"2026-09-23T09:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T09:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/444974\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T09:18:08","slug":"apd-releases-video-surrounding-north-austin-ice-shooting-of-venezuelan-man-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/444974\/","title":{"rendered":"APD releases video surrounding North Austin ICE shooting of Venezuelan man"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Newly released video<\/a> shows some of the moments before and after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot a Venezuelan man in North Austin<\/a> on Sunday, but the footage released by Austin police Tuesday does not show the shooting itself.<\/p>\n

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis walked through the video during a Tuesday afternoon news conference as the department’s Special Investigations Unit continues investigating the shooting of 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n

APD was not involved in the shooting, but an off-duty Austin police detective happened to be in the area as the incident unfolded, Davis said.<\/p>\n

The detective’s personal dash camera captured ICE agents in black vehicles interacting with Garces P\u00e9rez, who was inside a blue vehicle. The video shows two agents near the vehicle before the detective turned into a nearby shopping center to run an errand.<\/p>\n

Police said the detective was inside for about 10 to 15 minutes. During that gap, Davis said a vehicle pursuit traveled through nearby neighborhoods before ending about 200 yards from where the detective initially saw the vehicles.<\/p>\n

APD has obtained additional video showing portions of that pursuit but is still processing it.<\/p>\n

“There is some video that we have, and again, we’re processing that video of a pursuit that went through some of the neighborhoods there, and it ended there,” Davis said.<\/p>\n

RELATED| Judge temporarily blocks deportation of man shot by ICE agent in Austin, attorney says<\/a><\/p>\n

Davis declined to speculate about why Garces P\u00e9rez drove away from the initial location, saying investigators are relying on video and other evidence to determine what happened. She also said she did not know the reason for the initial stop.<\/p>\n

After returning to his vehicle, the off-duty detective heard sirens and began recording with his cellphone. Three gunshots can be heard in that recording, according to Davis. The detective then contacted an APD watch lieutenant and asked that officers be sent to the scene.<\/p>\n

APD also released body-camera video from the first Austin police officer to arrive. The footage shows Garces P\u00e9rez inside the blue vehicle as officers and first responders begin treating his injuries. At one point, an APD officer can be heard asking whether Garces P\u00e9rez was under arrest. The video later shows officers cutting off his shirt and providing first aid while ICE agents remained nearby.<\/p>\n

Davis said about three minutes passed between the call for medical assistance and EMS arriving at the scene.<\/p>\n

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson also addressed questions Tuesday about Garces P\u00e9rez’s medical treatment and his family’s inability to locate him after he was transferred from the hospital into federal custody.<\/p>\n

“You always hope under the circumstances that somebody’s going to get the full medical care that they need and deserve under those circumstances,” Watson said.<\/p>\n

Watson said Garces P\u00e9rez had already been taken from the hospital by ICE agents by the time he arrived Sunday.<\/p>\n

“I’m not going to judge that, although if it were me I would hope that I would have more than just a few hours in the hospital if I was shot in the back,” Watson said.<\/p>\n

Garces P\u00e9rez’s attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said her client spent about four hours at the hospital before being released into ICE custody with a bullet still lodged in his body. She has also said Garces P\u00e9rez’s wife was unable to see or speak with him at the hospital and initially did not know where he had been taken.<\/p>\n

Despite the newly released footage, investigators have not publicly established what happened immediately before the ICE officer opened fire.<\/p>\n

Davis said APD is collecting surveillance footage from businesses and videos submitted by members of the public to piece together a timeline.<\/p>\n

“I have questions. We all want to better understand what occurred,” Davis said. “I share those concerns, and our investigators are continuing to work to establish the facts of what occurred.”<\/p>\n

Davis said APD does not know whether the ICE officer involved had a body camera. She said APD had not requested federal body-camera footage as of Tuesday’s news conference, but investigators remained in contact with federal authorities.<\/p>\n

Garces P\u00e9rez’s attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, has disputed that her client was attempting to flee, saying he told her he was trying to pull over in a safer location.<\/p>\n

Garces P\u00e9rez was taken to a hospital after the shooting and later transferred to ICE custody at a processing center in Pearsall. His attorney said Tuesday that he was taken back to a hospital after experiencing severe pain and problems moving his left arm before being returned to the detention facility.<\/p>\n

The APD Special Investigations Unit is investigating the shooting alongside the Texas Rangers. Davis asked anyone with video, photographs, or other information about the incident to provide it to investigators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Newly released video shows some of the moments before and after an Immigration and Customs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-444974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}