A 28-year-old man who was shot in the back by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Austin on Sunday has still not received adequate medical care, his lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said on Instagram.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez is being held in isolation in a non-medical bed at an ICE detention facility in Pearsall, roughly 130 miles southwest of Austin, Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
Lincoln-Goldfinch has filed a federal lawsuit demanding Garces Perez be freed from ICE detention. A judge has set a hearing for Sept. 30 in San Antonio and ordered that Wilber must be present.
Garces Perez was briefly taken to a hospital Monday evening after he was unable to lift his left arm and was treated with a morphine drip, his lawyer said. He was brought back to the detention facility around 12 a.m. and given ibuprofen and Tylenol to treat the pain, she said. The bullet from Sunday's shooting is still lodged in his body near the back of his neck, she said.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garces Perez's communication privileges were revoked after he spoke to reporters over the phone during a Monday press conference. He told reporters in Spanish that he was "not doing well due to the gunshot wound" and that he hadn't received adequate medical attention at Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin, which he was sent to soon after the shooting Sunday. When he asked if the bullet would be removed, he said a doctor told him, "they're in a hurry to get you out of here."
Dell Seton Medical Center has not responded to requests for comment.
Garces Perez was shot by ICE near Research Boulevard and Anderson Square while delivering DoorDash orders, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. An unmarked black vehicle tried to sideswipe his car. When he realized that they were ICE agents, he made a U-turn so he could pull over, but they sideswiped him again, exited their car and shot him in the back of the neck, Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
It's unclear how Garces Perez was stopped. Neither the Department of Homeland Security or ICE have released an account of the events leading up to the shooting.
In a statement released late Sunday evening, DHS said ICE is investigating the shooting with assistance from the FBI. DHS said Garces Perez entered the U.S. illegally under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garces Perez entered the U.S. legally through a Biden-era program and has a valid work permit.
This is a developing story.
KUT's Chelsey Zhu and Neena Satija contributed reporting to this story.
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