ICE officer who shot Austin man wasn’t wearing body camera: Reports

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer who shot a Venezuelan man in Austin while he was in his vehicle this weekend was not wearing a body camera during the incident, according to multiple reports.

The officer fired at Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, while he was making a DoorDash delivery, according to his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch. He was taken to the hospital before being released into ICE custody.

The ICE agent was reportedly not wearing a body camera, NBC News reported Tuesday, as the Travis County District Attorney’s Office continues its investigation into the shooting. Lincoln-Goldfinch also alleged ICE agents “sideswiped” Garcés Pérez’s vehicle before the incident.

The local district attorney’s office sent letters to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE, requesting Garcés Pérez remain in the country “as a material witness in the ongoing investigation” about the shooting. The Venezuelan man, who his attorney says was legally seeking asylum in the U.S., was ordered for deportation.

Lincoln-Goldfinch wrote on social media that Garcés Pérez “remains gravely ill, with the bullet still lodged in his body, and he remains in ICE detention.”

“According to the detainee who spoke with his wife, Wilber appeared discolored, extremely swollen, and in significant pain,” she continued, before demanding that he be transferred back to a hospital for appropriate medical care.

When asked about the shooting, ICE denied Lincoln-Goldfinch’s reports that it refused to remove the bullets from Garcés Pérez’s body, denied pain medication or forced him to sleep on the floor.

“Contrary to their claims, this person is an illegal alien who has no legal status to be here and has been given some of the best medical care he’s ever received in his life,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement sent to The Hill.

When The Hill asked for comment on the allegations surrounding the officer’s body camera, an ICE spokesperson deferred to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “CORRECT THE RECORD” press release on the incident. The statement denies Lincoln-Goldfinch’s claims surrounding Garcés Pérez detention conditions and immigration status but does not address reports about the agent.

Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) wrote in a Wednesday post to social platform X that he plans to visit South Texas Detention Complex, where Garcés Pérez is being held.

“He needs a doctor, not deportation. I’ll report back on what I find,” Casar added.

More than half of the agency’s field officers have already been outfitted with the body camera, according to The Associated Press . The others were expected to receive them by the end of September.

A February 2025 ICE directive states its officers should activate these cameras at the beginning of enforcement activities — including arrests, stops and searches.

The agency’s policy, however, would reportedly only release footage if the administration determined doing so would be “in the best interests of the agency,” even in cases of bodily injury or death while in custody, the AP first reported in August.