ICE Agent Shoots Man in North Austin After Foot Pursuit, Victim in Serious Condition

A federal ICE agent shot and injured a man in Austin, Texas, following a brief foot pursuit. The victim was hospitalised in serious but stable condition.

ICE agent opens fire in North Austin, man hospitalised after foot pursuit

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and wounded a man in North Austin on Sunday following a brief foot chase, city officials confirmed at a news conference. The victim remained in serious but stable condition as of Sunday afternoon, according to texastribune.org.

Robert Luckritz, chief of Austin and Travis County EMS, said emergency responders received a call shortly before 1 p.m. reporting a man with a single gunshot wound in the 8000 block of Anderson Square. The man, struck in the upper torso, was transported to hospital.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis described the sequence of events as a "small foot pursuit" before the ICE agent discharged his weapon. Davis confirmed that Austin police, the Texas Rangers and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — the federal agency that oversees immigration enforcement — will jointly investigate the shooting.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said he was "angry" but "not surprised at all" by the incident, pointing to a sharp increase in immigration operations in the city over recent weeks. Watson expressed support for a multi-agency investigation. "If there's nothing wrong with that, they should welcome an investigation," he said. "Austinites should know the truth, and I am pleased that we're in a situation where Austin will also be involved in this investigation."

City officials said they had not yet established the nationality or full identity of the man who was shot, but confirmed he was an adult male.

U.S. Representative Greg Casar, Democrat for Austin, also attended the news conference and called for independent oversight of the shooting. "ICE has not been truthful in shootings in other cities," Casar said, adding: "It is appropriate for this community to ask for independence, to ask for transparency, and to ask for accountability. This is a pattern. It's a disturbing pattern, and it's got to stop."

The incident follows a fatal shooting in Houston on 7 July, in which an ICE officer shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Investigations into that killing remain ongoing.

Source: Google News MT