The Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer last month in Austin has pleaded not guilty to a federal charge of assaulting a federal officer while resisting arrest.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez entered the not guilty plea in a court filing Tuesday, a week after a grand jury indicted him on one count of assaulting, resisting, impeding and obstructing a federal officer. He also waived his appearance at an arraignment hearing that was scheduled for Thursday.
Garces Perez could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, the U.S. Justice Department has said.
Garces Perez entered the country legally under the Biden administration via the CBP One App, according to immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch. He applied for asylum, but an immigration judge issued a deportation order after he missed a court appearance. The notice for the hearing had been sent to the wrong address, the attorney said.
He also received a work permit, which expired in December 2025, according to Lincoln-Goldfinch.
Garces Perez was shot on Sept. 20 after he had been pulled over while making a food delivery.
During a Sept. 30 hearing with U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin M. Howell, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Rick Bazan, who investigated what led up to the shooting, was the lone witness to testify and provided details that were not previously public.
Bazan, who filed the criminal complaint charging Garces Perez, testified that he interviewed an ICE agent, identified by the initials D.F., who had a body camera that captured the initial traffic stop but later turned it off. Bazan said he didn’t interview the ICE agent, identified as L.G., who shot Garces Perez and who was not wearing a body camera.
Bazan didn’t say why L.G. was not interviewed as part of his investigation but said there was a separate investigation into the shooting by other DHS investigators. Bazan also testified he didn’t ask D.F. why he turned off his body camera.
During the court hearing, federal prosecutors showed the body cam footage.
Two ICE agents stopped Garces Perez after he picked up a food delivery order and began driving, Bazan testified.
The footage depicted L.G., who was wearing a ski mask, identifying himself as an immigration officer and ordering Garces Perez to step out of his Toyota Corolla. The footage showed Garces Perez responding that he wanted to park his car somewhere else and wanted to call someone to pick up his vehicle before speeding off.
Bazan testified that when Garces Perez drove away, a side mirror swiped L.G. But the footage and still image presented in court did not clearly show the mirror hitting the ICE agent, Bazan testified, in part because D.F. moved away as Garces Perez took off.
The footage also showed D.F. calling a state trooper on his cell phone before the trooper told him to instead call dispatch for help. Typically, police seeking backup call dispatch for help rather than call someone on a cell phone.
Shane McMahon, a public defender for Garces Perez, asked Bazan why L.G. wasn’t equipped with a body camera.
“We haven’t spoken to him,” Bazan said.
McMahon also asked Bazan why D.F. turned off his camera.
“You would have to ask D.F.” Bazan responded. “I don’t know why he turned it off.”
McMahon followed up: “Well I haven’t talked to D.F. but I know that you have. Did you ask D.F. why he turned it off?”
“No,” Bazan said.
At the Sept. 30 hearing, the judge ruled that Garces Perez was a flight risk and ordered him to remain in federal custody.
The federal criminal case put on hold Garces Perez’s petition for release and protection against deportation, which says he wants a chance to apply for a U-visa, a type of immigration status for victims and witnesses of a crime. The Travis County district attorney’s office had also requested that federal officials not deport the man, calling him a material witness in a criminal investigation.
