ReportShot in the Back on Delivery, Then Jailed With Bullet InsideWritten September 24, 2026 at 2:54 PM UTCWatchTranscript0:11A delivery driver sits in detention with a bullet lodged near his spine.0:14Wilbur Rafael Garces-Perez is 28, shot once through the back while on a DoorDash run0:19in North Austin.0:20Within a day, he was out of the hospital and inside an immigration lock-up hours0:24away, still carrying the bullet.0:26What remains unresolved is whether the stop, the shot, and the care afterward were0:30lawful, justified, and medically safe.0:32The wound was a single torso wound entering the back below the neck.0:35The bullet stopped near the spine and was left in place.0:38He was taken to Del Seton Medical Center in serious but stable condition, discharged0:43after only hours, and by Monday, September 21st, he was at the South Texas ICE0:47Processing Center in Pearsall, with that bullet still inside him.0:50He entered the United States in 2024 through the CBP1 app and applied for asylum.0:56He obtained a work permit and is described as having no criminal record.0:59A hearing notice went to an old address, despite an address update, producing an1:04inabsentia removal order.1:06The paper file also holds a final removal order from an immigration judge.1:11an entry under the prior administration and a work permit that expired in 2025 and1:15does not confer lawful status.1:17Two versions now exist and no full use of force reconstruction has been released.1:22In one, he was in a blue Toyota when an unmarked black SUV sideswiped him.1:26He did not know the occupants were officers.1:28He made a U-turn under an overpass looking for a safer place to stop, was sideswiped1:33again, then was shot through the passenger rear area in the back and pulled from the1:37car.1:37In the other, a license plate check tied the car to a man with a final order.1:42Lights and sirens were used and flight and resistance followed.1:45Identification before contact and alleged flight on foot remain contested.1:49The shooting happened just before 1 p.m.1:51near Anderson Square at Research Boulevard, US 183 and West Anderson Lane.1:56A blue car with damage to its passenger side door sat at the scene while Texas State2:00troopers blocked traffic.2:01Austin police were not the shooting agency, but the police chief said he was pursued2:05before he was shot.2:06On September 22nd at 6.45 p.m., Austin police released dash cam video, body2:12camera video from a responding officer, and cell phone video from an off-duty2:16detective on personal errands.2:18The material shows an earlier neighborhood stop minutes before shots heard and2:21treatment at the car.2:23It does not show the immigration officer firing.2:25The shooting officer was not wearing the assigned body camera, had been hired last2:29year from another federal agency, and was placed on administrative leave.2:33Detention turned a gunshot wound into an ongoing custody and medical fight.2:38Family members were kept in the dark Sunday night with Mayor Kirk Watson helping2:41obtain basic confirmation.2:43On Monday, September 21st, he spoke by phone from detention during a press2:47conference in Austin with Immigration Attorney Kate Lincoln Goldfinch, with2:50Representative Greg Kassar standing with her.2:52He described no pain medication, interrogation, and a night without a bed on the2:56floor, then left side numbness.2:59He later lost movement on his left side and was back in the hospital by Monday night3:02for a second stay with partial paralysis before being sent back to Pearsall.3:06The rebuttal position is that the hospital controls surgery decisions that he3:10receives round-the-clock care, including pain medication, that he slept on a bed,3:15and that the stop was targeted rather than random.3:17A memorial went up at the intersection Sunday.3:20Protesters gathered for hours where the shooting occurred, followed by night and3:23Monday demonstrations, including at the Capitol, involving La Frontera Unidad and3:28others, with about 175 people reported at one Capitol protest.3:32Lawmakers, activists, and representatives of LULAC and the NDAACP demanded release,3:38an independent probe rather than an internal review, and an end to the operation in3:43Austin.3:44Homeland Security Investigations is leading federally with FBI assistance.3:48The Austin Police Special Investigations Unit and the Texas Rangers are reviewing3:52locally.3:53With Austin Police and the Travis County District Attorney committed to an3:56independent review, leaving at least three agencies involved, members of Congress,4:00including Castro and Kassar, demanded he not be deported as a witness and that4:03camera material be released.4:05Federal Judge Orlando Garcia temporarily blocked removal and ordered an in-person4:09hearing for September 30th, keeping a wounded detained witness with a bullet near4:14his spine inside Pearsall while justification, shot count, and post-shot care await4:18answers.Read the articleStory timelineHeyDexThe short ↗Related coverageBackground·Oct 15, 4:15 AM UTCHouston DA Seeks ICE SUV—and Evidence to Test a Disputed Collision
