KXAN reported that a federal grand jury indicted Wilber Rafael Garces-Perez, who was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer during a disputed Sept. 20 encounter in Austin, Texas.
KXAN said the indictment brings one federal assault count and identifies Garces-Perez’s sedan as the alleged deadly weapon. Garces-Perez, a Venezuelan national, has not been convicted. A Sept. 28 federal complaint had already charged him over the same encounter.
A sworn affidavit from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says officers stopped Garces-Perez after confirming that an immigration judge had issued a final order of removal. It alleges he drove away after being told to park and get out of his car, striking an officer’s torso with a side mirror.
Garces-Perez acknowledged driving away after the order to leave his car. He told investigators that an officer’s SUV cut him off and collided with his car at the initial stop.
After a pursuit, the officer who fired said Garces-Perez tried to strike him with the car, according to the affidavit. Garces-Perez gave a different account of the shooting: He said the officer’s SUV struck his car and spun it around before the officer shot him.
The affidavit says the officer who fired wore no body camera. The other officer turned off his camera after losing sight of the pursuit and before learning of the shooting.
When announcing the initial charge on Sept. 29, the Justice Department said conviction could bring up to 20 years in prison. That announcement preceded the indictment reported by KXAN.
Austin police were investigating the shooting as of an Oct. 14 letter from Travis County District Attorney José Garza, whose Civil Rights Unit was supporting the inquiry. Garza said federal authorities had not fulfilled local investigators’ requests for video, records and witness interviews as of that date.
