Austin ICE Shooting Leaves Man Seriously Wounded in Texas
Sign up for our free newsletter
Subscribe to the America Report Updates to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.
A federal immigration officer shot and seriously wounded a man in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, triggering protests and demands from local officials for an independent investigation into what happened. The Austin ICE shooting occurred shortly before 1 p.m. in North Austin near West Anderson Lane, U.S. 183 and Research Boulevard. The unidentified man was struck in the torso and rushed to Dell Seton Medical Center, where officials said he remained in serious but stable condition.
Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said the victim had suffered at least one gunshot wound to the torso. His nationality and immigration status have not been publicly released.
Questions over moments before Austin ICE shooting
Exactly what led to the gunfire remains under investigation. Austin City Council member Mike Siegel, who represents District 7, said he had been told that a federal immigration vehicle boxed in or struck the man’s car before the shooting.
“I’ve heard from someone that an ICE vehicle boxed in a civilian vehicle, sideswiped it by the side, and then an ICE officer shot the driver of the vehicle,” Siegel told KVUE. That account has not yet been independently established by investigators.
Associated Press reporting cited Siegel as saying an ICE officer rammed the man’s vehicle, exited the federal vehicle and fired at least five times. However, other witnesses interviewed by Austin’s KUT radio station said they heard two gunshots. The precise number of shots therefore remains unclear.
Images from the scene showed a dark blue Toyota Corolla under an overpass with significant damage to the passenger side and what appeared to be several bullet holes. Siegel said he could see at least two bullet holes in the vehicle.
Witness says wounded man remained inside car
Two witnesses who work near the scene told KUT they heard gunfire and went outside. One witness said he encountered an ICE officer and saw the wounded man inside the vehicle. The witness said the man appeared to have been shot in the back and asked the officer whether an ambulance had been called. The officer said it had.
City officials said the victim was alert and talking while being transported to the hospital.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis stressed that Austin police officers were not involved in the federal operation or the shooting. APD officers later arrived to control traffic and assist at the scene. Davis said the department’s special investigations unit was also present.
Austin mayor demands outside scrutiny
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson called the shooting a serious incident and said he wanted local police involved in reviewing the circumstances. Watson said he was “very angry” about what had happened and argued that ICE should not be solely responsible for investigating one of its own officers. He called for Austin police to provide a separate set of “clear, third-party eyes” on the case.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Austin, also demanded an independent investigation and the release of any body-camera footage. Casar said officials should determine whether any federal officer broke the law and called for transparency as investigators reconstruct the shooting.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, had not released a detailed public account explaining what prompted the officer to open fire as of Sunday evening.
Protesters gather after shooting
The incident quickly drew protesters and onlookers to North Austin. About 100 people gathered following the shooting, according to the Associated Press, as anger over ICE enforcement operations spread around the scene.
Police closed portions of the surrounding roads as a large law-enforcement presence remained near the damaged vehicle. The shooting comes during an intense period of immigration enforcement around the country and amid heightened scrutiny of shootings involving federal immigration officers.
Another ICE shooting in Texas
Sunday’s incident came a little more than two months after an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7.
That case remains under investigation. Federal officials said in that incident that Salgado Araujo had used his vehicle against officers, while subsequent video reporting raised questions about parts of the government’s initial account.
The Austin shooting now presents investigators with another disputed sequence of events involving federal officers and a vehicle.
For the moment, critical questions remain unanswered: why ICE officers approached the man, what happened immediately before the collision between the vehicles, whether the victim attempted to flee or posed a threat, exactly how many shots were fired and what available body-camera or surveillance footage shows. Those answers could prove crucial as Austin officials push for an investigation independent of ICE itself.
