Listen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated using AI-based technology. Pronunciation errors may occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve results. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man Sunday afternoon in the Texas capital of Austin, local officials said, where anti-ICE protesters quickly gathered at the scene. The man was in serious but stable condition at a hospital after being shot in the torso on Austin’s north side, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said at a news conference with the city’s mayor and other officials present. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to requests for details. Austin police officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting, which occurred after a traffic stop, Davis told reporters. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, said he wants the city’s police department to participate in the investigation so it can provide “clear third-party eyes” in the process. Watson said he does not believe it is appropriate for ICE to conduct the investigation on its own. People protest as local authorities say a U.S. ICE officer shot and wounded a man on Sunday. (Joel Ángel Juárez/The Associated Press) Austin residents have a “right to feel safe in their city,” Watson said. A proper investigation will only enhance credibility, he added. Davis said there wasn’t much information he could provide so soon after the shooting, but added that the police department’s special investigation unit was on the scene. He said he did not yet know the nationality of the person who was shot. A dark blue Toyota Corolla was parked under an overpass with damage to the passenger side door and what appeared to be bullet holes, local media reported. A police officer confronts protesters at the scene. (Nuri Vallbona/Reuters) A large police presence was at the scene, along with a crowd of onlookers, along with a crowd of around a hundred protesters. Some protesters cursed police officers carrying riot shields, while others shouted as passing cars honked in support of the protest. One man held a sign that said, “No one is safe” and, on the other side, “ICE Nazi.” Asked if Austin authorities know where the federal agent involved is, given that agents have left the states after previous shootings across the country, the mayor said: “We don’t know. But my hope would be that an agent involved in an officer-involved shooting doesn’t leave the city. Certainly doesn’t leave the state.” parts of Austin, called for transparency as the shooting is investigated. “It is terrible that this horror has reached our doors,” Casar told reporters. “To make Austin safe, ICE should end its surge here.” The shooting comes as ICE ramps up surveillance across the country this summer, producing more than 50,000 arrests a month for the first time in its history in July and August. In July, an ICE officer shot and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo of Houston after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was driving his construction crew to a job site. Also in July, Johan Sebastián, a 25-year-old Colombian, was shot by an ICE officer in Maine. The officer is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since childhood and should never have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told The Associated Press. Bystanders comfort each other as they watch police tape at the scene of the alleged shooting. (Shahrzad Rasekh/Reuters) The shootings come amid a push by the Trump administration to carry out mass deportations. While the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, arrests still occur. The administration’s law enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.
