Wilber Perez indicted on federal assault charge after Austin ICE shooting
A federal grand jury indicted Wilber Rafael Garces Perez over a September encounter with immigration officers, Hindustan Times reported. Austin police are separately investigating the shooting.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Austin, Texas, on September 20, was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 20 on a charge of assaulting, resisting, interfering with and impeding a federal officer, Hindustan Times reported. The indictment moves the federal case forward while Austin police continue a separate investigation into the shooting.
The indictment accuses Perez of using a motor vehicle as a deadly and dangerous weapon while interfering with two federal officers performing their duties, according to Hindustan Times. It is a formal accusation, and Perez is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
What happened during the September 20 encounter
Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national, was working as a DoorDash driver and making a delivery when the encounter began, Hindustan Times reported. At an earlier hearing, prosecutors played ICE body-camera footage that they said showed his driver’s-side mirror striking an agent. Perez’s team disputed whether the video showed the mirror making contact. The disputed contact matters because prosecutors allege that he used the vehicle as a weapon.
Officers pursued Perez for about eight minutes through North Austin before an ICE agent shot him near Research Boulevard and Anderson Square, according to Hindustan Times. Austin police later released footage from an off-duty detective’s dashboard camera and a responding officer’s body camera; neither showed the shooting. The federal case and the local investigation concern different questions: the charge against Perez and the agent’s use of force.
Federal case and Austin police investigation
The Justice Department said in a September 29 release that Perez had been charged after the alleged September 20 encounter. That initial case was brought by criminal complaint. The October 20 grand-jury indictment is the later development reported by Hindustan Times. At Perez’s earlier hearing, a judge found probable cause to support the charge, and a judge denied him bond. Neither step was a finding of guilt; Hindustan Times reported that Perez remains in federal custody.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said local investigators had repeatedly requested evidence from federal authorities for their separate shooting investigation. ‘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, according to Hindustan Times.
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Sources and context
- Wilber Perez, Austin ICE shooting victim, indicted on federal assault chargeHindustan Times
- Illegal Alien from Venezuela Charged with Assaulting and Resisting a Federal Officer in AustinU.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.