Hours after a federal officer shot a Venezuelan man during a chaotic traffic stop Sunday in Austin, the city’s mayor was clear that he wanted the police department to investigate the shooting.

Mayor Kirk Watson said he didn’t trust federal investigators to conduct a thorough probe of the federal officer’s actions that left Wilber Rafael Garces Perez with a bullet lodged in his back.

Calling himself “very angry,” Watson said the Austin Police Department should investigate the shooting to “offer clear third-party eyes and expertise, and allow for a level of independence.”

Watson’s quick and assertive response stands in contrast to Houston Mayor John Whitmire, who was put in a similar situation in July after a federal immigration officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop.

Whitmire initially questioned whether the city had the authority to conduct its own investigation because the Houston Police Department was not involved in stopping Salgado Araujo’s van. A day after the shooting, Whitmire said “there cannot be two ongoing investigations, certainly when there’s not jurisdiction by one of them.”

After criticism by advocates who said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offered unreliable accounts after previous shootings by its officers, Whitmire three days later said he was committed to supporting an investigation.

“Our hands have been tied, but I’ve instructed the chief [and] city attorney to untie those hands,” Whitmire said in a news conference.

Watson and Whitmire, longtime Democrats who served together in the Texas Senate, took sharply different approaches to similar scenarios.

Mark Jones, a political science fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said the mayors lead dissimilar cities.

“Austin is arguably the most progressive major city in the state,” he said. “Austin is a dark blue city, whereas Houston is a light blue city.”

In the 2024 presidential election, voters in Austin’s Travis County favored Kamala Harris by 40 percentage points, while voters in Houston’s Harris County backed the Democrat by 6 points.

In Houston, Jones said, “the average voter is a centrist Democrat, whereas the average voter in Austin is a progressive Democrat.”

Jones said the political realities are reflected in how the two leaders approach their jobs: “Mayor Whitmire is a little more centrist, and Mayor Watson is a little more in the center-left.”

Jeronimo Cortina, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said the cities’ demographics likely played a role in the differing responses to the shootings.

“Certainly Mayor Watson tends to be more liberal in terms of policy stance than Mayor Whitmire,” he said. “And that has been very clear in terms of their political history and in the Texas Legislature.”

Whitmire served 40 years in the Texas Senate and retired in 2023 as chairman of the influential Criminal Justice Committee — a rare Democrat granted a leadership position by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Watson left the Senate in 2020 after 13 years providing a consistent Democratic vote but also gaining a reputation for working with Republican senators to improve legislation, even bills he opposed.

A week after Salgado Araujo was shot and killed, frustration over Whitmire’s approach boiled over during a tense public comment session.

Houston-area resident Griselda Hernandez confronted Whitmire: “I want you to look at me when I’m asking these questions because I see you’re glazing off. … Do you want any of your kids being hunted down like animals?”

Other speakers angrily accused Whitmire of sitting on his hands after one of their neighbors was shot to death by federal officers riding in unmarked vehicles.

Afterward, Whitmire said that while he understood residents’ anger, sadness and passion, yelling and cursing at him at the meeting and protesting near his home was “bad behavior.”

“It’s just wrong,” Whitmire added.

In Austin, some demonstrators threw rocks and water bottles at law enforcement hours after the shooting, and officers responded by shooting pepper ball-like projectiles at the crowd on the city’s north side. The scene was much more peaceful at a larger protest a day later outside the Texas Capitol, earning praise from Watson.

“I’m real proud of the city and the citizens and our residents last night who participated in peaceful assembly and had their voices heard,” he said Tuesday.

Jones said Watson had the advantage of learning from Whitmire’s experience, but the Austin mayor’s response struck a nerve with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

“If sanctuary politicians like the Mayor of Austin had their priorities straight, they’d stop putting the needs of illegal aliens over the safety of the American people,” Mullin wrote on X.

Jones said Whitmire tends to avoid taking positions that are “hyperpartisan.”

“Watson doesn’t have to worry about conservative or Republican voters since they’re such a small share of the Austin electorate,” Jones said. “Whearas Whitmire knows that those Republican voters are roughly 35% to 40% of his constituents.”

Watson, he said, knows “an overwhelming majority of his constituents have a negative opinion of ICE.”

“Watson doesn’t get mixed signals,” Jones added.

Disclosure: Rice University and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune within the past five years. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in our journalism. Find a complete list of them and more information about our financial and disclosure policies here.