AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man on Sunday afternoon in the Texas' capital of Austin, local officials said.
The man was in serious but stable condition at a hospital after being shot once in the torso on Austin’s north side, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said at a news conference with the city's mayor and other officials present.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, didn’t
immediately respond to requests for details.
Austin police officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting, Davis told reporters.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson 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 the investigation on its own.
Davis said there were not many facts she could provide so soon after the shooting, but added the 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 onlookers.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat representing parts of Austin, called for transparency as the shooting is investigated.
“The horror has come to our city: ICE has shot a person in Austin this morning,” Casar wrote on X. “As the facts emerge, I am demanding a full, independent investigation, immediate release of the body camera footage, and accountability for any ICE officer who broke the law.”
In July, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-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, 25-year-old Johan Sebastián, a 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 shootings come amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportations agenda. While the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, arrests are still occurring.
The administration’s enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.
