An ICE officer shot a man in Austin, Texas, on Sunday after what police described as a brief foot pursuit, prompting angry demonstrators to gather near the scene.
Video showed people yelling, whistling, waving flags, recording with phones and shouting obscenities.
Department of Homeland Security sources confirmed to Fox News that the man is an illegal alien from Venezuela with a final order of removal.
His lawyer identified him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez.
Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said her client entered the United States lawfully and previously held a valid work permit.
“We are actively working to obtain additional information and clarify the circumstances surrounding the matter.”
“We do not want to speculate or provide information that has not yet been confirmed,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
“What we do understand is that he previously held a valid work permit and that, based on the information available to us, he entered the United States lawfully.”
Police said preliminary information indicated Garces Perez was shot once in the torso during the brief pursuit.
He was hospitalized in serious but stable condition following the shooting.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis and Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz provided preliminary details during a Sunday afternoon news conference.
The officials repeatedly emphasized that the available information remained limited.
Luckritz said Austin-Travis County EMS was notified at approximately 12:56 p.m. and arrived in less than five minutes.
The man was removed from the scene within nine minutes and transported to a local trauma center.
Davis said she had not yet received a briefing from federal authorities.
“From what I’m hearing, there was a small foot pursuit,” she said.
“But again, this is all very preliminary,” Davis added.
Watson similarly described the information available to city officials as “extremely preliminary.”
Watson said officials wanted to make themselves available quickly when they had information.
He also warned against rushing to conclusions based on early claims circulating through TikTok, X and other social media platforms.
The Austin Police Department was not involved in the shooting and assisted only with traffic control, according to Watson.
Davis said the department’s Special Investigations Unit and the Texas Rangers will work together to investigate the incident.
“The city of Austin deserves answers,” Davis said.
“We’re going to get all those questions answered, and we’ll be as transparent as we can be.”
Watson said he was “very angry” and “extremely unhappy” about the shooting.
He accused ICE of creating fear and chaos in Austin and other cities while questioning the agency’s ability to investigate itself without local involvement.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garces Perez was released from the hospital and is believed to be in ICE custody.
She said hospital attorneys at Dell Seton Medical Center confirmed that he had been released from the hospital.
“After he was held for approximately six hours, officers declined to provide his wife with meaningful information about his status or circumstances,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
She added that his family had not received a meaningful update about his condition or whereabouts.
WATCH:
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, said on X that ICE had shot someone in Austin and demanded a full independent investigation and the immediate release of body camera footage.
“Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened,” Casar wrote.
“We will demand truth, transparency and accountability,” Casar wrote.
During the news conference, he called the shooting part of a “disturbing pattern” and declared, “This has got to stop.”
WATCH:
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, offered a sharply different response, saying he had been told the “shooter” was a Venezuelan national in the country illegally with a final order of removal.
“The war is the one being waged against Americans through mass legal & illegal immigration,” Roy wrote.
WATCH:
The Austin investigation unfolded amid heightened tensions over federal immigration enforcement operations across the country.
Protesters previously clashed with authorities outside New Jersey’s Delaney Hall immigration detention center after defying an order to move to a designated demonstration area.
Federal immigration operations also drew scrutiny in Minnesota following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
