A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and wounded a man on Sunday afternoon in Texas’s capital of Austin, local authorities said, and anti-ICE protesters quickly gathered at the scene.
The unnamed man was in serious but stable condition at a hospital after being shot once in the torso on the city’s north side, Austin’s police chief, Lisa Davis, said at a news conference with the mayor and other city officials.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not participate in the news conference and didn’t immediately respond to requests for details.
Austin police officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting, which occurred after a traffic stop, Davis told reporters.
Kirk Watson, Austin’s Democratic mayor, said he wants the city’s police department to be involved in the investigation so it can provide “clear, third-party eyes” in the process. Watson said he does not think it would be appropriate for ICE to conduct an investigation on its own.
Austin residents have “a right to feel safe in their city”, Watson said. A proper investigation will only enhance credibility, he added.
Davis said she did not yet know the nationality of the person who was shot. The chief said there were not many facts she could provide so soon after the incident, but added that her department’s special investigation unit was at the scene.
A dark blue Toyota Corolla was parked under an overpass with damage to its passenger-side door and what appeared to be bullet holes, local media reported.
A large law enforcement presence was at the scene, along with a crowd of about a hundred protesters. Some demonstrators cursed at police officers holding riot shields, while others yelled out as passing cars honked in support of the protest. One man held a sign saying “Nobody is safe” and on the other side, “ICE Nazi”.
Asked if Austin authorities knew where the involved federal agent is, given that agents have left states after previous shootings nationwide, the mayor said: “We do not know that. But my hope would be that, an agent that’s involved in an officer-involved shooting would not leave the city. Certainly not leave the state.”
Greg Casar, a Democratic congressman representing parts of Austin, called for transparency as the shooting is investigated.
“It is awful that this horror has come to our doorstep,” Casar told reporters. “For Austin to be safe, ICE should end its surge here.”
The shooting comes as ICE surges enforcement across the country this summer, producing more than ۵۰,۰۰۰ arrests a month for the first time in its history in July and August.
In July, an ICE officer fatally shot ۵۲-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo of Houston, after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was taking his construction crew to a job site.
Also in July, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a ۲۵-year-old Colombian man, was shot by an ICE officer in Maine. The officer is an army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told the Associated Press.
The administration’s enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.
