An ICE agent has been charged with shooting through the door of a Minneapolis residence and injuring a man in January, the Hennepin County Attorney announced Monday.
Christian J. Castro, 52, reported that two men, including the one who was shot, attacked him with a shovel and broom, but “his account is ” from a city-owned camera at a nearby intersection in North Minneapolis, according to the criminal complaint.
The shooting happened Jan. 14 in North Minneapolis while Operation Metro Surge was underway.
The criminal complaint alleges that Castro “fired his service weapon at the front door of the home, knowing there were people who had just run inside that presented absolutely no threat to him or anyone else,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at a Monday news conference.
“The bullet punched through the front door and struck Mr. Sosa-Celis’ leg before traveling through a closet and lodging in the wall of a child’s bedroom,” she continued. “Mr. Castro was not under any physical threat when he fired his weapon, or even beforehand. He was not hit by a shovel or a broom. In fact, he was not hit at all.”
Federal charges were dismissed against Sosa-Celis and the man whom ICE was following, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna.
Todd Lyons, now ICE’s acting director, said in February that his with the Justice Department after evidence revealed “sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements” about the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis. He said the officers were on administrative leave while the investigation was carried out.
Sosa-Celis and Alejandro Aljorna were in the U.S. lawfully, having been granted “temporary protected status” by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the complaint said. The situation was a case of “mistaken identity,” Moriarty added.
“ICE chased Mr. Aljorna when he was working for DoorDash,” Moriarty said. “He was not the person that they thought he was.”
4 counts of assault, 1 of falsely reporting crime
Castro was charged Monday in Hennepin County District Court with four counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
An attorney for Castro wasn’t listed in the court file as of Monday afternoon. A Homeland Security spokesperson did respond to a request for comment.
Moriarty said the four assault charges were filed as “a result of Mr. Castro shooting through the front door of a residence with the intent to cause fear of immediate bodily harm or death to the four adults who were just inside the door.” There were also two children inside the home.
On Jan. 14, just before 6:45 p.m., Minneapolis police received a report that ICE agents were pursuing a vehicle as a man was trying to reach his residence. Officers took remote control of a city camera at Lyndale and 24th avenues, and pointed it at the home.
The video, obtained by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension during the investigation, showed Sosa-Celis stepped onto the home’s front lawn holding a snow shovel. Two vehicles arrived in the area and suddenly stopped near the home.
Aljorna, who later reported he drove away from a vehicle following him because he feared for his life, exited his vehicle and ran from the home and an agent, identified as Castro, ran after him. Sosa-Celis “tossed the shovel onto the ground, where it remained throughout the incident,” the complaint said.
Aljorna slipped on ice in front of the home, Castro jumped on top of Aljorna “and engaged in a brief struggle” with him on the ground, the complaint continued.
Castro rolled off and onto the ground while continuing to try to grasp Aljorna. Sosa-Celis “reached down, appearing to separate” Aljorna from Castro and help Aljorna off the ground, the complaint said.
Aljorna and Sosa-Celis ran to the home’s front door and out of camera view. Three second later, Castro “raised both of his arms straight out in front of him, pointing toward the front door,” consistent with “firing a gun at the front door of the home,” according to the complaint.
Castro told FBI agents that after he was assaulted with a broom and shovel, he struggled with three men “for about three minutes, was exhausted, alone, on the ground, and in fear of his safety,” the complaint said of an FBI affidavit. He said he fired one shot before they ran into the home.
A warrant has been issued for Castro’s arrest. “Our best information is that he was not from the local area,” Moriarty said.
Second agent charged after Operation Metro Surge
Sosa-Celis’ shooting came a week after an in Minneapolis. On Jan. 24, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers shot and killed Alex Pretti, also in Minneapolis. The investigations into their shootings remain under investigation.
“We have multiple meetings every week with the federal partners that we’re working with, the Attorney General’s Office,” Moriarty said. “Investigations still continue, and we’re not going to move forward until we feel that itap appropriate to charge or not charge.”
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged another on the highway in February. He was the first federal officer charged in connection with Operation Metro Surge. A warrant was also issued for his arrest.
“We have made substantial progress in getting him here,” Moriarty said Monday.
Officials in the Trump administration have said ICE officers have “absolute immunity” from state prosecution, though Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison have said that is not correct.
Of Monday’s charges, Moriarty said: “Mr. Castro is an ICE agent, but his federal badge does not make him immune from state charges for his criminal conduct in Minnesota.”
Ellison added, “American jurisprudence has recognized for a long time that there is no absolute immunity … when a federal agent violates the criminal laws of a state.”
