Protesters gathered at the Texas Capitol late Monday for the second night of protests tied to the shooting of an Austin resident by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan citizen, is in ICE custody in South Texas. His lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said he still has a bullet lodged in his back.
Monday night's protest at the Capitol was organized by La Frontera Unida, an immigrant rights group. About 150 people were in attendance, and there was a heavy police presence. The organized protest ended peacefully just after 9 p.m.
Outside the Capitol gates, the crowd chanted: "Up, up with immigration; down, down with deportation," "We want justice; we want rights; we want ICE out of our sights" and "No more hate, no more fear; ICE has no business here."
The crowd spanned multiple age groups, from grandmothers to young teenagers.
Jere Confrey, herself a grandmother, was at the protest with her husband. She says the shooting happened near her home. After hearing the news, she said she felt compelled to go out and protest.
"Anybody who gets approached by an unmarked vehicle and rammed is gonna be in fear, and I believe nobody's above the law in this country," Confrey said. "I believe there are ways to do things justly, even through an immigration process. ... The way this is being done to ram somebody and then shoot them in their car without any identification is obscene."
On Sunday, there was another protest near Anderson Square and U.S 183 in North Austin. The protest ended around 10:30 p.m. after police responded to the incident and cleared the intersection. The Texas Department of Public Safety said pepper ball bursts and projectiles were used to counter the protest. At least four people were arrested, according to DPS and Austin Police.
Jaasiel Aviles, an Army veteran, said he was at the protest Sunday night, where he said he was pepper sprayed.
Aviles started becoming concerned about his parents' safety during his time in the Army. He said he felt it was important to protest the removal of immigrants from the U.S.
"I genuinely felt hurt. I was out there; I couldn't do anything about it," Aviles said. "I was following orders. I was in uniform ... and back at home I have parents that are being feared for their lives to being deported, and it struck a nerve in my soul."
Garces Perez's attorney held a press conference on Monday. Over the phone, the injured man answered questions about the shooting.
Garces Perez said he was driving for DoorDash when he was sideswiped by an unmarked black SUV. Garces Perez said he was trying to find a place to pull over when he was shot for not stopping. He was taken in an ambulance to Dell Seton Medical Center, but he said doctors did not remove the bullet before he was moved to a detention facility in South Texas.
This story has been updated.
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