ICE officer shoots and wounds man in Austin, Texas, officials say

A man has been hospitalised after being shot in the torso by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in the Texas capital, Austin, local authorities said.

The man was in a serious but stable condition at a hospital after being shot once in the torso on the city’s north side on Sunday afternoon, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said at a news conference with the local mayor and other city officials.

An immigration attorney representing the man’s family identified him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan.

Lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said in a video posted to her Instagram account that she believed he had no criminal history and no final order of removal from the US, but she later told the Associated Press news agency that she did not know his current immigration status.

The man’s family has struggled to get any information from the hospital about his status or location, Lincoln-Goldfinch said.

Austin police officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting, which occurred after a traffic stop, Davis told reporters.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not participate in the news conference and didn’t immediately respond to requests for details.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, said he wants the city’s police department to be involved in the investigation so it can provide “clear, third-party eyes” in the process. Watson said he does not think it would be appropriate for ICE to conduct an investigation on its own.