{"id":225143,"date":"2026-09-22T21:26:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T21:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/venezuelan-man-shot-by-ice-in-texas-says-hes-in-pain-and-still-has-bullet-in-his-back-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T21:26:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T21:26:26","slug":"venezuelan-man-shot-by-ice-in-texas-says-hes-in-pain-and-still-has-bullet-in-his-back-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/venezuelan-man-shot-by-ice-in-texas-says-hes-in-pain-and-still-has-bullet-in-his-back-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelan man shot by ICE in Texas says he\u2019s in pain and still has bullet in his back – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Venezuelan man shot by ICE in Austin during a traffic stop<\/a> spoke from immigration detention Monday and said he was in a lot of pain and still had a bullet lodged in his back.
Wilber Rafael Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez, 28, was shot early Sunday afternoon by an ICE officer while making deliveries as a DoorDash driver. He is being held in immigration custody at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas.
Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez said by phone during a news conference Monday that he was shot near the clavicle and that he has not received the medical attention he needs.
He said doctors did not remove the bullet because it was close to his spine and ICE was pushing the hospital to release him into the agency\u2019s custody in a hurry.
Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez said he arrived at the detention center around 4 a.m., where he complained about his ongoing pain. He said he did not receive medical treatment at the detention center or pain relief when he arrived until he was given an unknown pill Monday morning. He added that he had to sleep on the floor in a cold room.
Lawmakers, advocates and Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez\u2019s attorney demanded his release, alleging he was taken from a hospital into custody within four hours with a bullet still lodged in his back.
\u201cWilber is a victim of the shooting and the most important witness to it. You do not deport the key witness to your own officer\u2019s use of force,\u201d Juan Proa\u00f1o, the CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said during a news conference Monday afternoon that was also attended by Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez\u2019s wife.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency to which ICE belongs, said in a statement late Sunday that Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was in stable condition and was in federal custody pending removal from the U.S.
A senior administration official told NBC News on Monday that Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez did not have a criminal history beyond being in the country illegally.
According to Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez\u2019s attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, he entered the country legally and was seeking asylum. She said Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez told her he had let the immigration court know when he had a change of address, but a notice to appear in court was sent to an old address. Because of this mistake, Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez missed his court hearing and was ordered deported in absentia, according to his attorney.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said in a post on social media<\/a> later Monday that after the press conference she received a call from another detainee who allegedly told her \u201cofficers came in and handled Wilber roughly.\u201d
\u201cAccording to this detainee, Wilber then lost feeling on the left side of his body, including his arm and leg,\u201d she wrote on Instagram.
She added that according to the other detainee, Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was then \u201chandcuffed, shackled at the feet, placed in a waist chain, and taken to a hospital\u201d and she was waiting to find out how he was doing and what his current condition was.
\u201cWe need answers. We need to know that Wilber is safe and receiving appropriate medical care. So far, he has not,\u201d the attorney stated.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lincoln-Goldfinch\u2019s statements.
A person who witnessed the aftermath of the shooting but who requested anonymity told Noticias Telemundo that he was waiting on customers at the ice cream shop where he works when he heard gunshots and ran outside, where he saw immigration agents surrounding a car.
\u201cI approached the car and saw a man who looked sad and with his eyes full of tears. I asked him what happened to him, and he just told me, \u2018I was shot in the back,\u2019\u201d said the person, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for more than two decades.
\u201cYou aren\u2019t prepared to see someone like that. It makes you very angry, it pains you and you don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d he said.
Lincoln-Goldfinch shared Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez\u2019s account of the shooting, saying he was making a delivery when \u201can unmarked black truck sideswiped him.\u201d
\u201cHe didn\u2019t know it was ICE, and he did a U-turn under the highway. The truck chased him and sideswiped him again, and the agents came out and shot him in the back of the neck and pulled him out of the car,\u201d she said.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statements made during the news conference or for comment on earlier statements made by Lincoln-Goldfinch.
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, said Monday that \u201cthe federal government should not be allowed to shoot you and then disappear you from the country so that no one can be held responsible.\u201d
\u201cI am demanding, and Congress is making very clear to the head of ICE and to Secretary Mullin, that Wilber Garc\u00e9s needs to be released to medical care and should not be in Pearsall,\u201d he said, referring to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. \u201cHe needs to be released right now.\u201d
A social media video verified by NBC News captures the sound of tires screeching followed by a person exiting a dark-colored SUV as a blue sedan is stopped next to it, both vehicles facing each other. The sedan also appears to be damaged on the passenger side.
At least three gunshots are heard as the person approaches the sedan and runs up to it as it slowly lurches forward. The video shows the person standing next to the sedan\u2019s driver\u2019s side as it stops in front of an intersection.
Another video shows the blue sedan with its driver\u2019s side door open and Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez hunched over in the driver\u2019s seat, holding his left upper chest, near his shoulder, as multiple law enforcement officers gather around.
The woman taking the video says, \u201cWhy did he do that to him?\u201d The officers tell her that an ambulance is coming.
The video shows Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez being taken out of the car and handcuffed behind his back. The agents make him sit on the ground. There appears to be a large bloodstain down his back. The officers cut open the back of his shirt, revealing a bullet hole.
An officer asks the woman taking the video if she saw what happened. In Spanish, she replies that \u201cthey just shot him because he didn\u2019t want to stop\u201d his vehicle.
\u201cThis is unjust,\u201d she says as she\u2019s recording the video.
A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson said the agency had received a request for assistance from ICE for a vehicle pursuit involving a blue Toyota Corolla.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said earlier she was with Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez\u2019s wife at the hospital where he was taken, hoping to get information on his condition, but they were escorted from the premises.
\u201cWe not only were lied to and told that he wasn\u2019t there, but we were thrown off the hospital grounds by several officers who treated us as trespassers,\u201d she said.
DHS has not provided any information about whether the ICE officer involved was wearing a body camera or if Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was the target of an operation.
Local officials at the news conference decried the increase in arrests in their state and called for an independent investigation into the shooting.
Austin police are investigating. Police Chief Lisa Davis said Monday that the investigation will be impartial and based on the facts. She did not have additional information to share about the shooting.
\u201cI understand that that is frustrating. I also recognize the concern and uncertainty this incident has created in our community,\u201d she said in a video statement<\/a>. \u201cBut it is important that we distinguish between what we know, what we have heard and what the evidence ultimately establishes.\u201d
The shooting comes as ICE has greatly increased enforcement<\/a> across the country this summer, making more than 50,000 arrests a month for the first time in its history in July and August.
It also comes two months after an ICE officer fatally shot<\/a> Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, in Houston during an attempted traffic stop to conduct an immigration arrest. DHS has said Salgado Araujo was in the country illegally and attempted to run over agents, but it has not provided evidence of its claims.
About a week after the fatal shooting in Houston, another ICE officer shot and killed Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero<\/a> in Biddeford, Maine, after a traffic stop. Neither man was ICE\u2019s intended target during the immigration operations.
Daniella Silva is a national reporter for NBC News, focusing on immigration.
Ryan Chandler is a correspondent for NBC News.
Albinson Linares is a reporter for Noticias Telemundo based in Mexico City.\u00a0
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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For YouSettings news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeAUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Venezuelan man shot by ICE in Austin during a traffic stop spoke from immigration detention Monday and said he was in a lot of pain and still had a bullet lodged in his back.Wilber Rafael Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez, 28, was shot early […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":225144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}