Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer badge.
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A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man in the Texas capital Austin on Sunday afternoon, local authorities said, and anti-ICE demonstrators quickly gathered at the scene.
The unidentified man was in serious but stable condition at a hospital after being shot once in the torso on the city’s north side, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said at a news conference with the mayor and other city officials.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not participate in the press conference and did not immediately respond to requests for details.
Davis told reporters that Austin police officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting that occurred after the traffic stop.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson (D) said he wants city police involved in the investigation to provide a “clear third-party set of eyes” during the investigation. Watson said he doesn’t think it’s appropriate for ICE to conduct its own investigation.
Austin residents “have a right to feel safe in their city,” Watson said. Proper investigation will only increase credibility, he added.
Davis said he does not yet know the nationality of the person who was shot. The chief said there were not many facts to share immediately after the incident, but added that the department’s special investigation unit was at the scene.
According to local media, a dark blue Toyota Corolla was parked under the overpass, with damage to the passenger side door and what appeared to be bullet holes.
There was a heavy law enforcement presence at the scene, where about 100 protesters had gathered. Some demonstrators taunted police officers wearing riot shields, while others shouted as passing cars honked their horns in support of the protesters. One man held a placard that read, “No one is safe,” and on the other side, it said, “ICE Nazis.”
When asked if Austin authorities knew the whereabouts of the federal agents involved, given that investigators have left the state after previous mass shootings across the country, the mayor said, “We don’t know. But my hope is that the federal agents involved in the officer-involved shootings will not leave the city. They certainly won’t leave the state.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Cassar, a Democrat who represents parts of Austin, called for transparency in the investigation into the shooting.
“It’s terrible that this horror has come before our eyes,” Casale told reporters. “For the safety of Austin, ICE must stop the surge here.”
The shootings come as ICE ramps up enforcement efforts across the country this summer, making more than 50,000 arrests in a month in July and August for the first time in ICE history.
In July, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Houston resident, was chased by federal agents driving an unmarked vehicle and shot and killed by ICE agents as he was driving construction workers to a job site.
Also in July, 25-year-old Colombian man Johan Sebastian was shot and killed by ICE agents in Maine. The officer, a military veteran, has suffered from serious mental health issues since childhood and should never have been given a badge or a gun to patrol American streets, several of his relatives told The Associated Press.
Last winter, the administration’s enforcement efforts were widely criticized in the wake of the killings of Alex Preti and Renee Good in Minnesota.
