A federal grand jury in Austin has indicted Wilber Rafael Garces-Perez, the Venezuelan man shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer at the end of a car chase last month, on one count of assaulting, resisting, impeding and obstructing a federal officer.
The indictment was entered on the federal court docket in the Western District of Texas on Oct. 20, and a judge has set Garces-Perez's arraignment for Oct. 29. It accuses him of using a motor vehicle as a “deadly and dangerous weapon” and of forcibly interfering with an officer who was carrying out official duties, according to CBS Austin, which published the charging document. The indictment itself does not describe what happened on Sept. 20.
It follows a sealed criminal complaint that a magistrate judge signed on Sept. 28. When Garces-Perez first appeared in court the next day, the Justice Department said he faced up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted, and it listed the prosecution under Operation Take Back America, the department's nationwide campaign against illegal immigration, cartels and violent crime.
According to the complaint, officers from ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations pulled Garces-Perez over on Sept. 20 after confirming that an immigration judge had issued a final order of removal against him. He handed over his driver's license but ignored instructions to put the car in park and get out, prosecutors allege. After further instructions from the officers in Spanish, the complaint says, he closed his window and drove off, and the driver's side mirror struck one officer in the torso. The department has said body camera footage shows that moment.
In the government's account, the officers then pursued him in a high-speed chase through commercial and residential streets with their emergency lights and sirens running. One officer lost sight of the car. The other caught up, and prosecutors allege that Garces-Perez tried to hit him with the vehicle, prompting the officer to fire his pistol. The shot struck Garces-Perez in the back, and the officer who fired was not wearing a body camera, The Texas Tribune reported; his partner was. Garces-Perez was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center and turned over to ICE about three hours later with the bullet still in his back.
His account differs on several points. He and the officers have given conflicting statements about when the emergency lights came on and whether the officers struck his car, according to the Tribune. His defense team argues that the body camera video does not make clear whether the mirror touched the officer, CBS Austin reported, though Garces-Perez acknowledged in an interview with investigators that he disregarded the orders to park and step out of the car.
At a hearing last month, a federal judge found that prosecutors had probable cause to support the charge, and Garces-Perez remains in federal custody after being denied bond. U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Howell ordered him held after prosecutors argued he was a flight risk because he fled the traffic stop and has family ties to Venezuela, the Tribune reported. Howell did not accept the government's separate argument that he was a danger to the community.
The Justice Department refers to Garces-Perez, 28, as an illegal alien. The Tribune reported that he entered the United States legally at the San Ysidro port of entry in California in December 2023 and applied for asylum through the CBP One app. Records show he received a removal order in August 2025, an order that his lead attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, says was sent to the wrong address. A motion to reconsider was denied in July, and his lawyer says his work permit expired last December.
His detention has drawn attention in Congress. Several members and advocacy groups have urged his release on medical grounds, and Rep. Greg Casar of Austin, who visited him, said he “needs a doctor, not a deportation or a detention center.” Lincoln-Goldfinch said last month that the defense remained concerned about sepsis and long-term immobility.
The shooting is the subject of a separate local investigation. Austin police detectives and a representative of the Travis County District Attorney's Office went to the scene that afternoon, and the department opened a criminal investigation that the district attorney's civil rights unit is supporting. In an Oct. 14 letter to Rep. Bennie Thompson, the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, District Attorney José Garza said federal agencies had not fulfilled any of the local requests for evidence, which included witness interviews, video footage and records, according to a statement from his office. Garza said it would not be appropriate to disclose facts or preliminary findings while the investigation is pending.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said earlier this month that the department had much of the evidence it needed but had received nothing from its federal partners despite several requests. Dash camera video from an off-duty detective and body camera video from a responding officer, both released by Austin police, do not show the shooting, according to CBS Austin.
The Justice Department said last month that Homeland Security Investigations is investigating the case and that Assistant U.S. Attorney Britni Verdeja is prosecuting it. Like the complaint before it, the indictment is an accusation, and Garces-Perez is presumed innocent unless the government proves the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.