By Anna Wilder And Safiyah Riddle
Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced an assault charge against a Venezuelan delivery driver who was shot in his car by a federal immigration agent in Texas, accusing the man of striking an officer with his side mirror while trying to drive away.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was charged with one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer, according to a criminal complaint. Garces Perez, whose attorney has said he still has a bullet lodged in his back from the Sept. 20 shooting, made an initial court appearance in an Austin federal court on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Texas.
A nine-page affidavit from a Department of Homeland Security agent amounts to the government’s fullest public account to date of the shooting in the Texas capital, which has set off protests and outrage from Democrats over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The document includes photos taken from body-worn cameras but no video was released, and the complaint did not say whether the agent allegedly struck by the side mirror sustained any injuries.
The accusations against Garces Perez are reminiscent of previous claims made by immigration agents after high-profile shootings, in which officers have similarly accused drivers of weaponizing their vehicles. In a handful of cases, those allegations have been undermined or walked back after the release of body-worn camera footage, and have renewed scrutiny about the DHS’s reliance on vehicular stops to execute arrests.
Garces Perez was in the custody of U.S. Marshals after being removed from a federal detention center in South Texas, according to court documents filed by federal prosecutors. Separately, Garces Perez’s attorneys have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop his removal from the U.S.
During the federal court hearing Tuesday, Garces Perez was in “extremely bad medical condition,” his lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said, describing him as light-headed, nauseated and confused about what was happening. For the nine days since he has been incarcerated, Lincoln-Goldfinch said, Garces Perez has not stopped pleading for surgery to remove the bullet, which is preventing him from moving his arm without pain. DHS did not immediately respond to questions on Tuesday afternoon about Garces Perez’s medical treatment.
If convicted, Garces Perez faces up to 20 years in prison.
Affidavit says agent was struck in torso by side mirror
According to an affidavit signed by a DHS agent, officers first saw Garces Perez’s car parked outside of a restaurant with its emergency flashers on. They decided to pull him over after conducting a database check that showed the car was registered to Garces Perez who had a final order of removal from the U.S.
The agents said that they turned on their lights to execute the stop, but in the same filing, Garces Perez told investigators that an unmarked SUV followed him and then abruptly cut him off on the side of the road.
Garces Perez, who was making a DoorDash delivery, provided his driver’s license through a crack in the window, but ignored agents’ requests to step out of the car, the complaint said. Garces Perez told investigators that he declined to exit because he had asked for officers to wait to apprehend him until his wife could come retrieve his car. Court documents describe the interaction as initially conversational, with a tone that was “pleasant and not aggressive.”
About a minute later, according to court records, Garces Perez “abruptly” closed the window and drove off. One of the officers, who is referred to only by his initials, was struck in his torso with the driver’s side view mirror when Garces Perez tried to drive away, the documents say.
Officer who fired wasn’t wearing body camera
The unnamed officer who shot Garces Perez wasn’t wearing a body camera. The other officer involved in the chase was wearing a camera, but only caught up to the chase after Garces Perez had been shot, according to the affidavit.
ICE has previously said its field officers nationwide will have body-worn cameras by the end of September.
The affidavit included screenshots from previously unreleased body-worn camera footage of the officer’s initial interactions with ICE agents. The first of three photos appears to show the officer standing in front of Garces Perez’s driver’s door mirror; the second shows the officer resting his hands on the hood and side of Garces Perez’s car, with the mirror close to or touching the officer’s abdomen; and the third appears to show the car pulling away.
Lincoln-Goldfinch called on DHS to release the full body-worn camera footage, rather than screenshots that she said could be misleading.
“This is an example of the government playing games with my client’s life and safety,” she said.
The Austin Police Department last week released video from its officers. But that footage did not show the shooting or the moment that Garces Perez allegedly tried driving away.
Conflicting accounts of lead-up to shooting
The affidavit includes Garces Perez providing his account to federal investigators, which paints a contrasting picture of the lead-up to the shooting than what federal prosecutors described.
According to the affidavit, Garces Perez said that a law enforcement SUV struck his car after a brief chase and caused it to spin before an agent opened fire, shooting him in the back. By contrast, U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons said in a statement that Garces Perez tried to strike an officer with his car, “causing the officer to fire his pistol.”
Garces Perez entered the U.S. in 2024 using CBP One, a program begun under President Joe Biden that allowed migrants to make appointments with U.S. authorities to be considered for asylum. President Trump ended the program on his first day in office.
Garces Perez was an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit, according to his lawyer. She said a judge issued a deportation order after Garces Perez missed an immigration court hearing because the notice was sent to a former address.
Others have faced charges following ICE shootings
The shooting occurred amid a surge in ICE enforcement across the U.S. during President Donald Trump’s second term. ICE reported more than 50,000 monthly arrests in July and August — a first for the agency.
Immigration officers have come under intense scrutiny for shootings that have occurred since Trump took office in January 2025 — at least 10 of which have been fatal. On a few occasions, federal law enforcement has charged the person shot by immigration officers with assault.
A woman shot several times by Border Patrol officers in Chicago and a man shot in the leg by an ICE agent in Minneapolis were both accused of assaulting officers, but in both cases the charges were dropped. The ICE officer in Minneapolis has since been charged with lying about getting assaulted before shooting the man in the leg.
Riddle reported from Los Angeles.