Desperate wife pleads for answers after husband ‘shot by ICE agent’ while driving to work

The family of an Arizona man who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent says they still have very little information about the incident.

According to the victim’s wife, who identified herself as Anahi, said her partner, Jose Garcia-Sorto, was heading to work near I-17 and Dove Valley Road on Wednesday when an ICE agent reportedly shot him. She told news outlet Arizona’s Family he never came home the night of the shooting and she has very little information about the incident.

“He would get home and hug the kids. And to see that he didn’t get here yesterday, it really hurts a lot, because I always wait for him here [at home],” Anahi, a mother of two, said with tears in her eyes.

Homeland Security claims the incident unfolded during a traffic stop, during which an agent attempted to stop a vehicle in the area. Its alleged that Garcia-Sorto initially stopped his car but then tried to speed away in the same direction of an officer. The official, reportedly fearing for his life, fired two rounds at the victim’s car.

Anahi learned of her husband’s shooting through her brother, who called his sister immediately after watching a news report about the shooting. “It was my brother. He watched the news and he called me. Because he, (Jose) didn’t make it to work. He told me, watch the news I think immigration shot him,” she recounted.

Garcia-Sorto survived the shooting and is receiving treatment in the hospital, Anahi said. However, she said DHS won’t divulge any further information regarding agents’ reasoning for shooting at her loved one.

“They (Law enforcement) don’t wanna say anything to me. They’re only saying that he’s in the hospital, but that he’s in there with a different name, and that they don’t want him to talk, and no one can visit him.”

Garcia-Sorto and Anahi are illegal immigrants from Honduras, so news of the shooting only put more stress on the family. The grieving wife sent a message to the ICE agents involved: “What they’re (ICE) doing is bad, but I don’t wish anything bad towards them, because I am not God to judge them. I pray for them.”

As for her husband, she said: “I want to tell him that I love him and miss him a lot. His kids miss him too.” If Garcia-Sorto ends up being ousted from the country, Anahi said she and their children would follow.

The incident in Phoenix is one of several shootings involving ICE agents that have occurred in the US in the last few months. Two have happened in California during ICE traffic stops within the last two weeks, one on Ontario on Oct. 30 and another in South Los Angeles. In both incidents, ICE agents claimed to have feared for their lives.