ICE agent charged in Minneapolis shooting of Venezuelan man

Minneapolis ICE shooting charges: You have to look back to the American Revolution

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty points to the American Revolution as where prosecutors had to look back to in charging the shooting of a Julio Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis by an ICE agent.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office filed charges against an ICE agent in connection with the January shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan national, in Minneapolis.

ICE agent facing charges

What we know:

Christian J. Castro, 52, was charged via warrant with four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime in connection with the Jan. 14 shooting, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

Prosecutors allege Castro fired a gunshot into a north Minneapolis home "knowing it was occupied by multiple individuals," striking Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg. Investigators recovered a 9mm shell casing outside the home and documented a bullet trajectory traveling through the front door and multiple interior walls before lodging in a bedroom wall.

The complaint alleges Castro provided false accounts of the confrontation to fellow ICE agents, medical staff and the FBI, claiming he had been attacked with a broom and shovel before firing his weapon. Prosecutors say those claims were contradicted by surveillance video, witness statements and physical evidence.

According to the complaint, four adults and two children were inside the home at the time of the shooting. Investigators said ICE agents surrounded the home after the shooting, deployed tear gas and later entered the residence, taking four adults into custody. The complaint states paramedics were not allowed access to Sosa-Celis for nearly an hour after he was shot in the leg.

The full criminal complaint can be read below: 

ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis

The backstory:

The ICE-involved shooting took place near the 600 block of 24th Avenue North just before 7 p.m. on Jan. 14. 

Initial reporting detailed federal agents were pursuing a man in a vehicle who had crashed into a snowbank. The man then ran to a nearby home, where a pursuing agent caught up with him and attempted to make an arrest. 

An "altercation" between the agent and suspect then ensued, which led to two other people arriving from a nearby apartment, and all three attacking the officer – one armed with a broomstick, according to DHS. 

"Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life," DHS initially claimed.

RELATED: Minneapolis ICE shooting: City releases video that undermines feds' version of events

Julio Sosa-Celis, 24, a Venezuelan national, was taken to the hospital for treatment of a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, while Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, 26, was also arrested in its aftermath. 

Both men were charged with assaulting a federal agent in the aftermath of the altercation, but the DOJ later requested the charges be dismissed with prejudice, writing in a motion that, "newly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent with the allegations in the complaint affidavit."

Big picture view:

The shooting occurred one week after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by ICE officers and ten days before the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal officers.

ICE agents under federal investigation

Dig deeper:

The U.S. Attorney’s Office later opened a criminal investigation into two ICE officers after video evidence allegedly showed the agents’ sworn testimony included "untruthful statements."

Court filings filed after the shooting showed the ICE officers’ accounts of the moments leading up to the shooting differed significantly from testimony provided by the two defendants and multiple eyewitnesses.

New Minneapolis ICE shooting video undermines feds' account

A new video released by the City of Minneapolis shows the ICE shooting of Julio C. Sosa-Celis on Jan. 14. The video undermines federal authorities' account of what happened that night.