{"id":451955,"date":"2026-09-30T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T09:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/451955\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T09:00:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T09:00:40","slug":"man-shot-by-ice-in-north-austin-charged-with-assaulting-federal-officer-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/451955\/","title":{"rendered":"Man shot by ICE in North Austin charged with assaulting federal officer"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas (KEYE) \u2014 A man who was shot and wounded by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer<\/a> in North Austin this month has been charged with assaulting a federal officer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas said.<\/p>\n

Wilber Rafael Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez, 28, made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday on one count of assaulting, resisting, interfering with and impeding a federal officer, according to federal prosecutors. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. <\/p>\n

A detention hearing is set for Friday.<\/p>\n

According to the criminal complaint, ICE officers stopped Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez on Sept. 20 because an immigration judge had issued a final order of removal<\/a> against him. <\/p>\n

An affidavit filed with the complaint says one officer blocked Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez’s car with his SUV and that his car stopped “in a safe area not blocking traffic.” The officers said there was no contact between the vehicles.<\/p>\n

One of the two officers involved in the stop turned on his body-worn camera, according to the affidavit. The officer who later fired was not wearing a body camera.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege he handed over his driver’s license but ignored orders to put his car in park and step out, then closed his window and drove off, striking an officer in the torso with his side mirror.<\/p>\n

The partner’s body camera footage captured that part of the encounter, according to the affidavit. He turned the camera off during the chase after losing sight of the pursuit while calling for help.<\/p>\n

\"Prosecutors<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege he handed over his driver’s license but ignored orders to put his car in park and step out, then closed his window and drove off, striking an officer in the torso with his side mirror. (Photo: Affidavit)<\/p>\n

The complaint alleges Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez led officers on a high-speed chase through commercial and residential areas. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said last week<\/a> that police were processing video that captured the pursuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is some video that we have, and again, we\u2019re processing that video of a pursuit that went through some of the neighborhoods there, and it ended there,\u201d Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said in a Sept. 22 media briefing.<\/a><\/p>\n

When one officer caught up to him, Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez allegedly tried to hit the officer with his car, prompting the officer to fire his pistol, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez gave investigators a different account. He said the officer’s SUV cut him off and hit his car during the initial stop. <\/p>\n

He admitted ignoring the order to get out, saying he wanted to park the car so his wife could pick it up. He said the chase ended when the SUV struck his car and spun it around, and that the officer then fired into his back right window, hitting him in the upper back.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was shot near Research Boulevard and Anderson Square and taken to a hospital before being transferred to an ICE detention center in Pearsall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Video released last week<\/a> by Austin police showed ICE officers talking with Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez in his car and a pursuit that followed, but none of the footage showed the shooting itself. Three gunshots can be heard on video recorded by an off-duty Austin police detective.<\/p>\n

The Austin Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit and the Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting.<\/p>\n

The shooting has drawn protests<\/a> in Austin and criticism<\/a> from Democratic U.S. Reps. Greg Casar and Joaquin Castro, who have called for an independent investigation and for Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez to be released for medical care. <\/p>\n

Castro has said Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was shot in the back. Casar said after visiting him last week that a specialist had recommended surgery to remove a bullet still lodged in his body. The Department of Homeland Security has disputed their accounts of his medical treatment.<\/p>\n

His attorneys say Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez entered the U.S. legally through the CBP One app in 2024, applied for asylum and received a work permit. They say he missed an immigration hearing because notice was sent to an old address, leading a judge to order him removed in his absence. DHS has said his work authorization expired in 2025.<\/p>\n

A federal judge has ordered Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez to appear Wednesday at a hearing in San Antonio, where his attorneys are seeking to block his removal and win his release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas (KEYE) \u2014 A man who was shot and wounded by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-451955","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\/451955","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=451955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}