ICE agent shoots a man in Austin as bullet-damaged cars emerge at chaotic scene

AUSTIN, TEXAS: An ICE agent shot a man in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, September 20, sending him to a hospital as investigators worked to piece together what happened at the scene.

Details remained limited hours later, with authorities yet to publicly identify the man or confirm his condition.

But several reports described a blue Toyota Corolla with bullet damage to its passenger-side door, drawing attention from local officials.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has condemned the shooting saying he is "extremely unhappy" about it and has demanded answers.

Austin man shot by ICE

Democratic Rep Greg Casar said the shooting happened on Sunday morning and called for an independent investigation.

“The horror has come to our city: ICE has shot a person in Austin this morning,” Casar wrote on X.

Casar said he was seeking the immediate release of body-camera footage and a full review of the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

He also called for consequences if an ICE officer was found to have broken the law.

The congressman went further in a second post, saying Austin residents would protest what he described as the federal immigration enforcement campaign.

His statements were political claims made before investigators had released a detailed account of the shooting.

Authorities had not publicly established what led to the gunfire, who fired the shots or whether anyone else was injured.

Austin City Council Member Mike Siegel, who was at the scene, told media outlets that it was being treated as a federal crime scene.

He said he wanted Austin officials involved in the investigation.

The bullet-damaged Toyota was among the clearest visible signs of the violence at the time of filing this report.

The Corolla had damage around the passenger-side door as well as bullet holes.

ICE shootings face scrutiny

The Austin shooting comes as federal immigration agents remain under scrutiny over several shootings during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year.

The two most prominent cases involved the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both US citizens.

Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent on January 7 while she was in her vehicle during an immigration enforcement operation.

Days later, on January 24, Pretti, an intensive-care nurse, was fatally shot by federal Border Patrol agents during another confrontation in Minneapolis. 

The two deaths triggered protests and a dispute over how federal immigration officers use force.