Tear Gas Floods Austin After ICE Gunfire

Raised fist in foreground at a crowded street protest — Photo: Ink Drop / Shutterstock

Texas state troopers fired tear gas and pepper balls at crowds gathered after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot a food delivery driver in North Austin.

Story Snapshot

An ICE agent shot a Venezuelan food delivery driver during a traffic stop in North Austin on September 20, 2026.
Texas state troopers used tear gas and pepper balls to clear protesters who gathered near the scene, and several people were detained.
Austin police say they were not involved in the shooting; a federal officer pulled the trigger.
Congressman Greg Casar and the Travis County District Attorney are demanding an independent investigation and full release of video footage.

Shooting Sparks Protests in North Austin

The shooting happened after Texas state troopers helped ICE agents chase a blue Toyota Corolla through North Austin. The Department of Public Safety said it stepped in after ICE asked for backup during the pursuit. The driver, a Venezuelan man working a food delivery job, was shot in the torso and taken to a trauma center in stable but serious condition.

Word of the shooting spread fast, and protesters showed up at the scene within hours. Crowds blocked intersections near the site, and video from the night showed tense standoffs between demonstrators and law enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the man had a final order of removal and was in federal custody pending deportation, describing him as living in the country illegally.

Federal Agent, Not Local Police, Fired Shot

Austin officials moved quickly to make clear their own department had no role in the shooting. “The Austin Police Department was not involved in this,” officials said at a city hall briefing, stressing that a federal officer pulled the trigger. Police Chief Joseph Chacon also said his department had seen a sharp jump in ICE detentions across Austin in recent weeks, even though local police were not part of the operation that led to the shooting. Mayor Kirk Watson appeared visibly frustrated at a follow-up press conference, again confirming that Austin police had no part in the incident. A federal spokesperson said Homeland Security Investigations, working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), would lead the review into what happened.

Local leaders leaned on that distinction to reassure residents while pressing for outside review. City officials said Austin residents deserve to know exactly what happened and to feel safe on their own streets, tying the shooting directly to fears about the growing federal presence in the city.

State Troopers Move to Clear Streets

As the crowd grew larger and louder, state troopers in riot gear moved in to break it up. Officers fired tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd and ordered protesters to leave the area. Multiple people were detained during the operation, according to reporting on the scene. Some protesters reportedly threw rocks at vehicles before troopers intervened.

Austin police said they were not the ones who used force against the crowd, and a spokesperson told reporters the department did not yet know what had led to the shooting in the first place. That left state troopers, not city police, at the center of the response to the unrest that followed.

Calls Grow for Independent Investigation

Congressman Greg Casar formally demanded an “immediate, independent investigation” into the shooting. He also called for the release of all footage tied to the incident and asked that evidence be preserved before any agency could alter or lose it. The Travis County District Attorney’s office echoed that call, saying the DA and Austin police should work as equal partners alongside federal investigators, not be sidelined by them.

This an anti-ICE protest in North Austin. On September 20, an ICE officer shot and wounded a 28-year-old delivery driver. Following the shooting, local residents and advocacy groups organized a rapid-response demonstration here.

— Melanie Torossian (@MelTor77889) September 21, 2026

The push for transparency comes against a wider backdrop. A recent American Civil Liberties Union report found that force has become what researchers called a “default tool” for ICE officers nationwide. Separately, House Democrats said only one ICE officer has been referred for discipline over a use-of-force incident since President Trump’s administration began, a figure they flagged during a briefing with agency officials. Those numbers do not prove wrongdoing in the Austin case, but they show why local leaders across the political spectrum are asking to see the evidence for themselves rather than take any single agency’s word for it.