According to the criminal complaint, ICE officers stopped Garcés Pérez on Sept. 20 because an immigration judge had issued a final order of removal against him.
A man who was shot and wounded by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in North Austin this month has been charged with assaulting a federal officer, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas said.
Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday on one count of assaulting, resisting, interfering with and impeding a federal officer, according to federal prosecutors. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
A detention hearing is set for Friday.
According to the criminal complaint, ICE officers stopped Garcés Pérez on Sept. 20 because an immigration judge had issued a final order of removal against him.
An affidavit filed with the complaint says one officer blocked Garcés Pérez's car with his SUV and that his car stopped "in a safe area not blocking traffic." The officers said there was no contact between the vehicles.
One of the two officers involved in the stop turned on his body-worn camera, according to the affidavit. The officer who later fired was not wearing a body camera.
Prosecutors allege he handed over his driver's license but ignored orders to put his car in park and step out, then closed his window and drove off, striking an officer in the torso with his side mirror.
The partner's body camera footage captured that part of the encounter, according to the affidavit. He turned the camera off during the chase after losing sight of the pursuit while calling for help.
Prosecutors allege he handed over his driver's license but ignored orders to put his car in park and step out, then closed his window and drove off, striking an officer in the torso with his side mirror. (Photo: Affidavit)The complaint alleges Garcés Pérez led officers on a high-speed chase through commercial and residential areas. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said last week that police were processing video that captured the pursuit.
“There is some video that we have, and again, we’re processing that video of a pursuit that went through some of the neighborhoods there, and it ended there,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said in a Sept. 22 media briefing.
When one officer caught up to him, Garcés Pérez allegedly tried to hit the officer with his car, prompting the officer to fire his pistol, according to prosecutors. Based on the affidavit, it is not clear if the officer was inside a vehicle at the time.
Garcés Pérez gave investigators a different account. He said the officer's SUV cut him off and hit his car during the initial stop.
He admitted ignoring the order to get out, saying he wanted to park the car so his wife could pick it up. He said the chase ended when the SUV struck his car and spun it around, and that the officer then fired into his back right window, hitting him in the upper back.
Garcés Pérez was shot near Research Boulevard and Anderson Square and taken to a hospital before being transferred to an ICE detention center in Pearsall.
Video released last week by Austin police showed ICE officers talking with Garcés Pérez in his car and a pursuit that followed, but none of the footage showed the shooting itself. Three gunshots can be heard on video recorded by an off-duty Austin police detective.
The Austin Police Department's Special Investigations Unit and the Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting.
In a statement to CBS Austin on Tuesday, one of the attorneys representing Garcés Pérez, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said the hearing on Tuesday came as a "surprise," writing:
His attorneys only learned of this appearance due to a pre-scheduled meeting they had with him this morning, in which he did not appear.
Nine days after being shot by ICE, Wilber still has a bullet lodged in his back. Medical professionals say he’s in grave danger because of it. This morning, when his attorneys were finally able to see him, he was in considerable pain, dizzy, and needed pain medication, which had not been provided. Rather than provide the life saving medical care he needs, DHS and the government are playing games with his life.
CBS Austin contacted the U.S. Attorney's office, as well as the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, to ask who represented Garcés Pérez in court Tuesday.
Castro has said Garcés Pérez was shot in the back. Casar said after visiting him last week that a specialist had recommended surgery to remove a bullet still lodged in his body. The Department of Homeland Security has disputed their accounts of his medical treatment.
His attorneys say Garcés Pérez entered the U.S. legally through the CBP One app in 2024, applied for asylum and received a work permit. They say he missed an immigration hearing because notice was sent to an old address, leading a judge to order him removed in his absence. DHS has said his work authorization expired in 2025.
Garcés Pérez was scheduled to appear Wednesday at a hearing in San Antonio, where his attorneys were seeking to block his removal and win his release. He is now instead scheduled to appear at a detention hearing in Austin related to the criminal charges.
