{"id":857151,"date":"2026-09-22T23:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/857151\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T23:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:50:12","slug":"ice-officer-who-shot-man-in-austin-was-issued-a-body-cam-but-wasnt-wearing-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/857151\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE officer who shot man in Austin was issued a body cam but wasn\u2019t wearing it"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The ICE officer who shot a Venezuelan man in Austin on Sunday, <\/a>leaving a bullet lodged in his back, was issued a body camera but was not wearing it during the shooting, two officials with the Department of Homeland Security told NBC News.<\/p>\n

The officials said it was not clear why the officer was not wearing his body camera. Another ICE officer who was in the same vehicle was wearing a body camera, the officials said. That camera captured partial footage of the incident, but the footage does not include the moment of the shooting, the officials said.<\/p>\n

Wilber Rafael Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez<\/a>, 28, was shot early Sunday afternoon by an ICE officer while making deliveries as a DoorDash driver. He was taken to a hospital and, four hours after he was shot, was taken into immigration custody at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas, his attorney said. The bullet remains in his back.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a federal judge granted an emergency order temporarily blocking deportation proceedings<\/a> against Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez, according to his attorney, <\/a>Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.<\/p>\n

The Travis County District Attorney\u2019s Office also sent a letter to DHS and ICE leadership requesting that Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez be allowed to remain in the country since he is \u201ca material witness\u201d in their criminal investigation into the shooting.<\/p>\n

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis shared on Tuesday evening some of the first video footage obtained by the department as part on their probe into the shooting. The videos came from an off-duty officer who captured part of the encounter between ICE and Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez, as well as the sound of three gunshots, using his personal dash cam and cellphone.<\/p>\n

After this, the off-duty officer alerted his colleagues to the shooting, allowing Austin police to quickly respond to the scene.<\/p>\n

Davis said they are seeking the public\u2019s help in obtaining any video evidence that can help them piece together the pursuit that preceded the shooting.<\/p>\n

\"DoorWilber Rafael Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was shot by an ICE officer while delivering food in Austin.Courtesy Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch<\/p>\n

The day after he was shot, Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez began \u201cexperiencing an inability to move his arm,\u201d attorney Lincoln-Goldfinch said on social media. <\/a>He was taken to the hospital Monday afternoon for several hours and then sent back to the detention center, she said.<\/p>\n

The DHS did not respond to requests for comment about Lincoln-Goldfinch\u2019s statements.<\/p>\n

Earlier Monday, Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez told a news conference via phone from detention that he was in a lot of pain and wasn\u2019t getting the medical care he needed.<\/p>\n

Lincoln-Goldfinch alleged in a social media post that after Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez spoke out at the news conference, guards at the detention center \u201cforcibly took the tablet from his hands, revoked his communication privileges, and moved him out of the infirmary into an isolated room with a flat bed that cannot be adjusted like a medical bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was then taken to the hospital around 5 p.m. after losing his ability to move his arm, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWilber reports that he was handcuffed, shackled at the ankles, placed in a waist chain, and handled roughly during that transfer,\u201d she said in the post. <\/p>\n

Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez told her on Tuesday morning that doctors spoke to him about his care and gave him morphine for his pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now understand that the gunshot fractured his clavicle and that he has significant swelling and is wearing a sling,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWe still do not have clarity about the cause or extent of the loss of movement he experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ICEElizdar, right, wife of Wilber Rafael Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez, and attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.Jay Janner \/ The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The attorney said Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was discharged from the hospital around midnight and taken back to the detention center, where he is receiving Tylenol and ibuprofen for his ongoing pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe remains in isolation, on a flat bed, and without the tablet he previously used to communicate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking for his communication privileges to be immediately restored and for him to be provided an appropriate medical bed and adequate medical care,\u201d she said. \u201cMost importantly, we are continuing to advocate for Wilber\u2019s IMMEDIATE release.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said on social media<\/a> that \u201cdespite losing movement on his left side and having a bullet lodged next to his spine, ICE has forced Wilber Rafael out of the hospital and back to the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that he and Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, would visit Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez on Wednesday, check on his condition and demand his release.<\/p>\n

A DHS spokesperson said in a statement late Sunday that Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was in stable condition and was in federal custody pending removal from the U.S.<\/p>\n

A senior administration official told NBC News on Monday that Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez did not have a criminal history beyond being in the country illegally. <\/p>\n

According to Lincoln-Goldfinch, Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez entered the country legally and was seeking asylum. She said Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez had filed a change of address in immigration court, but received a notice to appear in court at the old address and never got it. Because he missed his immigration hearing, Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was ordered deported in absentia, according to his attorney.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Lincoln-Goldfinch shared Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez\u2019s account of the shooting, saying he was making a delivery when \u201can unmarked black truck sideswiped him.\u201d She said he didn\u2019t know it was ICE as the truck chased him as he tried to make a U-turn, and then \u201cpulled him out of the car.\u201d <\/p>\n

Previously, DHS has accused immigrants involved in shootings with ICE of using their cars as weapons while fleeing agents, without offering evidence of its claims. But it did not make the accusation in the case of Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez or in the case of Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, who was fatally shot in Biddeford, Maine, in July during a traffic stop.<\/a><\/p>\n

ICE Director David Venturella previously told NBC News<\/a> that every ICE officer and agent would be equipped with body cameras by the end of August, adding the agency would allow the \u201cexpedited release\u201d of bodycam footage \u201cwhen appropriate.\u201d Further delaying that timeline is the possibility of DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin potentially switching or adding new vendors<\/a> for body cameras.<\/p>\n

A person who witnessed the aftermath of the shooting but who requested anonymity because he is going through immigration proceedings told Noticias Telemundo that he was waiting on customers at the ice cream shop where he works when he heard gunshots and ran outside, where he saw immigration agents surrounding a car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI approached the car and saw a man who looked sad and with his eyes full of tears. I asked him what happened to him, and he just told me, \u2018I was shot in the back,\u2019\u201d said the person, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou aren\u2019t prepared to see someone like that. It makes you very angry, it pains you and you don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A social media video verified by NBC News captures the sound of tires screeching followed by a person exiting a dark-colored SUV as a blue sedan is stopped next to it, both vehicles facing each other. The sedan appears to be damaged on the passenger side.<\/p>\n

At least three gunshots are heard as the person approaches the sedan and runs up to it as it slowly lurches forward. The video shows the person standing next to the sedan\u2019s driver\u2019s side as it stops in front of an intersection.<\/p>\n

Another video shows the blue sedan with its driver\u2019s side door open and Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez hunched over in the driver\u2019s seat, holding his left upper chest, near his shoulder, as multiple law enforcement officers gather around.<\/p>\n

The woman taking the video says, \u201cWhy did he do that to him?\u201d The officers tell her that an ambulance is coming.<\/p>\n

The video shows Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez being taken out of the car and handcuffed behind his back. The agents make him sit on the ground. There appears to be a large bloodstain down his back. The officers cut open the back of his shirt, revealing a bullet hole.<\/p>\n

An officer asks the woman taking the video if she saw what happened. In Spanish, she replies that \u201cthey just shot him because he didn\u2019t want to stop\u201d his vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unjust,\u201d she says as she\u2019s recording the video.<\/p>\n

Julia Ainsley reported from Washington, D.C., Daniella Silva from New York and Albinson Linares from Austin, Texas. <\/p>\n