A Venezuelan man shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in North Austin last month has been indicted on a federal charge of assaulting, resisting, interfering with, and impeding a federal officer. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national, is a DoorDash driver who was in the middle of a delivery when he was shot.
Court documents filed Tuesday, October 20, stated that a federal grand jury indicted Perez in connection with the September 20 incident. The indictment accuses Perez of using a motor vehicle as a deadly and dangerous weapon while interfering with two federal officers performing their official duties, per CBS Austin.
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The Austin Police Department is continuing its separate investigation into the officer-involved shooting. APD Chief Lisa Davis said earlier this month that local investigators were still waiting for evidence from federal authorities despite repeated requests.
“We have a lot of the evidence that we need. We have made several attempts or several calls to our federal partners. We’ve not received anything at this point, but I am still hopeful that we will,” Davis said.
The indictment is a formal accusation. Perez is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez’s criminal hearing
During Perez’s criminal hearing last month, a federal judge found that prosecutors have probable cause to support the charge against him. ICE body camera footage played in court by prosecutors showed that Perez allegedly struck an ICE agent with his driver’s side mirror. Officers then went on an eight-minute pursuit of Perez through North Austin neighborhoods, which ended near Research Boulevard and Anderson Square, where an ICE agent shot Perez.
Perez reportedly admitted to investigators that he disregarded orders from officers to park and exit his car. His team, however, argued that the video does not make it clear whether the car mirror made contact with the ICE agent.
Austin police went on to release dash-camera video from an off-duty detective and body-camera video from a responding officer. However, none of them showed the shooting.
Perez is now in federal custody. The criminal case is moving forward after a judge denied his bond.
