José Garza
Role at the time: Travis County District Attorney
Statement summary
Travis County District Attorney José Garza said information had so far flowed from Austin police to federal law enforcement, and that it was incredibly important for it to flow both ways. He said that, to his knowledge, the federal government had not shared any evidence with Austin police or responded to Austin police's request to participate in or interview the ICE agent who fired.
“So far, the information has been flowing from the Austin Police Department to federal law enforcement officials, and as we sit here today, three days away from this shooting, it is incredibly important that the information start to flow both ways To my knowledge, at this point, the federal government has not shared any evidence with the Austin Police Department, and importantly, has not responded to a request from the Austin Police Department to be able to participate in or be allowed to interview the ICE agent who discharged his weapon here in Travis County this past Sunday”
Why we used this label
The case asks whether DHS should lead the investigation of the shooting. Garza said information had so far flowed from Austin police to federal officials and that it was incredibly important for it to flow both ways. He said that, to his knowledge, federal officials had not shared any evidence or answered Austin police's request to participate in or interview the ICE agent. His office had also asked to be a co-equal partner in an independent investigation. That criticizes how the federal-led investigation was being handled, so we labeled it Condemned.