ICE agent wounds man in Austin, Texas, shooting: Officials

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man in Austin, Texas, on Sunday (Sep 20), city officials said, adding that the man was in serious but stable condition.

The man was shot in the torso and taken to a local hospital, officials told reporters at a press conference. 

The ICE agent shot him during a brief pursuit on foot shortly before 1pm local time (2am, Monday, Singapore time), Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said.

ICE, the US Department of Homeland Security and the Texas Department of Public Safety did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

City officials did not identify the man who was shot, and said they did not know the identity of the ICE agent involved. Davis said she had not been briefed yet by federal officials and had few details about the incident.

The shooting is the latest in a series of incidents involving ICE, which has become the face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and whose actions have drawn scrutiny and calls for accountability from rights advocates.

CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, said he wants city police involved in the investigation, with the additional participation of the Texas Rangers.

“From my perspective, the credibility of ICE doing some form of an investigation just by itself and excluding others would not be appropriate,” Watson said, adding that he is angry about the shooting but not surprised by it.

ICE recently started detaining more people in Austin, Watson and US Representative Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat, said.

“Just a few weeks ago, as we saw the ICE surge come to Austin, especially to North Central Austin, I and others said that ICE needed to leave before someone was shot,” said Casar, whose district includes parts of Austin.