Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was delivering a DoorDash order in North Austin on Sept. 20 when a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot him in the upper back, according to Austin police and his attorney. Four days later, the 28-year-old remained in federal immigration detention with the bullet still inside his body, his attorney said. Austin-Travis County EMS received a report of a shooting from the Austin Police Department at 12:56 p.m. and found Garces Perez with a gunshot wound, EMS Chief Rob Luckritz said. He was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center in serious but stable condition. Videos released by APD show three gunshots and, afterward, Garces Perez seated in his car, visibly distressed and holding his back. Speaking in Spanish, he tells an officer that his shoulder was hit. An officer then pulls him from the vehicle and places his hands behind his back as an ICE agent handcuffs him. An APD officer cuts open his shirt and identifies a gunshot wound. The events immediately before the shooting remain unclear. Dash-camera footage from an off-duty APD detective shows Garces Perez’s car stopped between two black SUVs. Police Chief Lisa Davis said the stop was about 200 yards from where the shooting occurred and that a vehicle pursuit later went through nearby side streets. APD had not released footage of that interval as of Tuesday, and Davis said she did not know why the initial stop was made. She said investigators had found no evidence of a foot chase. Garces Perez told his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, that an unmarked black truck sideswiped his car and that he did not realize the people involved were ICE agents. At a news conference, he said through a translator that he had not been told to pull over and had not seen police lights or heard sirens. ICE did not answer questions about whether agents used lights or sirens. NBC News reported, citing two Department of Homeland Security officials, that the agent who fired the shot had been issued a body camera but was not wearing it. The agent has not been publicly identified. DHS said Garces Perez was in the country unlawfully, lacked a valid work permit and had a final deportation order. His attorney and U.S. Rep. Greg Casar said he came from Venezuela in 2024 as an asylum seeker, was admitted at the border and received permission to work. Lincoln-Goldfinch said a hearing notice went to an old address, and that Garces Perez missed the hearing as a result. DHS confirmed that a deportation order had been issued in his absence. A federal judge temporarily blocked his deportation and ordered him to appear at a Sept. 30 hearing in San Antonio. Garces Perez said he received no treatment for the wound during his first hospital visit and was transferred to the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall about four hours later, with the bullet still lodged near his spine. DHS disputed his account, saying he had been medically released and was receiving around-the-clock care, including pain medication. His attorney later reported that he was taken back to a hospital after losing feeling on his left side and was given IV morphine. She said the bullet had fractured his clavicle and that, as of Wednesday, he remained detained with restricted communication. The accounts of his treatment have not been independently reconciled. The shooting prompted a protest at the Texas Capitol on Sept. 21, where hundreds of people called for Garces Perez’s release and for ICE to leave Austin. Casar said local officials had warned that a rise in ICE activity could lead to someone being shot. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and several City Council members have backed APD’s investigation and called for those involved to remain in Texas. Council members Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez and Chito Vela urged ICE to leave the city and called for APD to investigate independently of federal agencies. DHS said it would not reduce its operations or leave Austin. APD is continuing to gather and review evidence. The shooting has raised urgent questions about how the encounter began, why an agent fired, and whether Garces Perez received adequate care while in custody.