An ICE officer shot and seriously wounded a Venezuelan man Sunday afternoon in Austin, Texas, officials and a law enforcement source said.
The man was taken to a local hospital and is “in serious but stable condition” after being shot in the torso, Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said at a news conference.
The man is in the U.S. illegally and had a final order of removal, the law enforcement source told NBC News.
The Department of Homeland Security has not provided any information about whether the ICE agents involved were wearing body cameras or if the man was the target of an operation or has any criminal background other than an immigration violation.
The White House referred NBC News to the DHS for comment. A DHS spokesperson said they “will look into it.”
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said the Austin Police Department was not involved in the incident.
The shooting occurred around 1 p.m. in North Austin. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said a “small foot pursuit” occurred. Austin police investigators are on the scene and she is in contact with Homeland Security Investigations and other state law enforcement agencies, she added.
“A person being shot on the streets of Austin by someone purporting to be law enforcement, particularly when it’s ICE, is something that causes me to be unhappy and angry,” Watson said at the news conference. “While I’m unhappy and I’m angry about it, I’m not surprised at all.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, said he is demanding an independent investigation, the release of body camera footage and “accountability for any ICE officer who broke the law.”
“Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened. We can see the lies with our own eyes. We will demand truth, transparency and accountability,” he said in a post on X.
James Talarico, who is running as the Democratic candidate for one of Texas’ U.S. Senate seats, said he is “closely following” reports of the shooting, and requested an investigation and all available footage.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, demanded “full accountability.”
“Trump has allowed ICE to flood our streets and put our communities in harms way again and again,” he said in a post on X.
In reaction to the shooting, the League of United Latin American Citizens — the largest Latino civil rights organization in the U.S. — called on Congress to establish an independent oversight of immigration enforcement.
Watson said he has asked for the city of Austin to be involved in any forthcoming investigations so that the police department can “be in a position to offer clear third-party eyes and expertise”
In a statement, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office requested to be “co-equal partners in the investigation” and to receive cooperation from the federal government.
Protesters gathered at the site of the shooting. One woman, who said she has lived in Austin for 33 years, told NBC News that she has never witnessed an incident like this and it “broke my heart.”
The shooting comes two months after an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, in Houston during an attempted traffic stop to conduct an immigration arrest. DHS has said Salgado Araujo was in the country illegally and attempted to run over agents, but has not provided evidence of its claims.