ICE Officer Shoots Austin Delivery Driver, Who Is Jailed With a Bullet Near His Spine

Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker, was delivering a DoorDash order in north Austin shortly before 1 p.m. on September 20 when an ICE officer fired three times at his car, hitting him once in the back. About four hours later he was moved from the hospital to the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall with the bullet still lodged near his spine. “I haven’t received any medical attention. I’m in a lot of pain,” he said from detention. The next evening he developed partial paralysis on his left side and was returned to a hospital, the Washington Post reported. DHS says it is investigating with the FBI; Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said he was “very angry,” and a federal judge set a September 30 hearing on his habeas petition.