ICE officer shoots Venezuelan man in Austin, Texas, law enforcement source says

An ICE officer shot and wounded a person Sunday afternoon in Austin, Texas, officials said.

The victim, who was identified as a man, was transported to a local hospital and is “in serious but stable condition” after being shot in the torso, Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said at a news conference.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said the Austin Police Department was not involved in the incident.

It was not immediately clear what the victim’s nationality is and whether he was a target of an ICE operation. Those questions “still need to be answered,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said.

The shooting occurred around 1 p.m. Davis a “small foot pursuit” occurred. Austin police investigators are on the scene and she is in contact with Homeland Security Investigations and other state law enforcement agencies, she added.

“A person being shot on the streets of Austin by someone purporting to be law enforcement, particularly when it’s ICE, is something that causes me to be unhappy and angry,” Watson said at the news conference. “While I’m unhappy and I’m angry about it, I’m not surprised at all.”

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, said he is demanding an independent investigation, the release of body camera footage and “accountability for any ICE officer who broke the law.”

“Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened. We can see the lies with our own eyes. We will demand truth, transparency and accountability,” he said in a post on X.

Watson said he has asked for the city of Austin to be involved in any forthcoming investigations so that the police department can “be in a position to offer clear third-party eyes and expertise”

Protesters gathered at the site of the incident following the shooting.

One woman, who said she has lived in Austin for 33 years, told NBC News that she has never witnessed an incident like this and it “broke my heart.”

NBC News has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and the White House for comment.

In July, an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, in Houston during an attempted traffic stop to conduct an immigration arrest.