The Austin Police Department released body camera footage Tuesday showing officers arresting a Venezuelan man moments after ICE agents shot him during an attempted weekend arrest.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was wounded Sunday when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers tried to take him into custody. Three short videos released by police capture the local response to the shooting, including what sounds like three gunshots in one clip.
Another video shows an officer arriving to find Garces Perez hunched over in the driver’s seat of his vehicle, clutching his left shoulder in apparent pain. Officers wearing body cameras then helped him out of the car before arresting him, footage that contradicts claims he was pulled from the vehicle by federal agents.
“He’s got… Looks like one gunshot wound so far,” an officer is heard saying on the recording.
Another officer ordered someone to get shears to cut open Garces Perez’s shirt so his wounds could be examined. “¿Tiene armas?” an officer asks in Spanish, inquiring whether he has any firearms.
Garces Perez was reportedly delivering a DoorDash order when he made a U-turn under a highway and ICE agents continued to pursue him. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, claimed an unmarked truck chased her client and sideswiped his vehicle before he was shot.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said her client received a final order of removal after a hearing notice was sent to his previous address, even though he had updated his address with the court. Authorities confirmed Garces Perez had a final order of removal.
ICE disputed rumors about the shooting and Garces Perez’s legal status, noting that his work permit expired in 2025 and that holding one does not confer legal status in the United States. The agency also stated Garces Perez was released from the hospital and arrived at an ICE detention facility hours later, where he slept on a bed.
ICE rebuffed allegations that Garces Perez was indiscriminately targeted. “This illegal alien was the subject of a targeted vehicle stop,” the agency said in a statement. “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the US Resisting officers and evading arrest is dangerous for our officers, illegal aliens, and the public. We remind the public that resisting officers and evading arrest is a felony and a federal crime. Sanctuary politicians need to stop encouraging this dangerous behavior that puts our officers and the public at risk.”
The shooting has intensified debate over immigration enforcement tactics in Austin, a city with sanctuary policies that limit local cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The released footage covers only the police response after the shooting, not the pursuit or the moments when ICE agents opened fire.
Garces Perez’s case now sits at the intersection of criminal and immigration proceedings, with his attorney challenging both the circumstances of his shooting and the validity of his removal order.