New Evidence and Officer Body Camera Disclosures
The investigation into the weekend shooting of a Venezuelan delivery driver by a federal immigration officer in Austin, Texas, intensified on Tuesday as local police released new footage and reporting revealed the agent was not wearing an activated body camera.
According to updates provided by Austin officials, the Austin Police Department released video on Tuesday captured by an off-duty officer’s dashcam and a responding officer’s body camera. The visual evidence is part of an ongoing local inquiry intended to reconstruct the sequence of events that led up to the Sunday afternoon shooting of 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez.
Simultaneously, national reporting and sources familiar with the inquiry confirmed that the lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer involved in the stop was not wearing his assigned body camera at the time of the incident. Department of Homeland Security guidelines indicate the officer was issued a camera, leaving investigators without direct federal video footage from the primary law enforcement actor.
Legal and Medical Developments
Garcés Pérez, who works as a DoorDash driver, was hospitalized following the shooting. His legal representation, attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, stated that Garcés Pérez sustained a gunshot wound to the back and that a bullet remains lodged near his spine. Following a brief hospital admission, he was transferred into federal immigration custody.
In response to legal filings, a federal judge issued a temporary order halting Garcés Pérez's deportation while the investigation proceeds. Legal counsel and community advocates have raised concerns regarding his ongoing medical care and physical condition following the enforcement stop.
Federal Oversight and Agency Response
Federal authorities stated that Homeland Security Investigations will spearhead the formal inquiry into the shooting, backed by support from the FBI. The Department of Homeland Security has maintained coordination with local entities as public scrutiny mounts over the circumstances of the stop and the lack of direct federal video documentation.
The incident remains under active investigation by both federal overseers and local law enforcement agencies as officials work to reconcile conflicting accounts of the encounter.
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