Ice Agent Charged in Shooting of Venezuelan Immigrant

NBC reported on May 18, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot a Venezuelan man and is accused by Minnesota prosecutors of lying about the incident was charged with assault and falsely reporting a crime in Minnesota.

Minnesota prosecutors announced that ICE agent Christian Castro was charged with four counts of assault in the second degree and one count of falsely reporting a crime related to the January shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis during an attempted immigration arrest.

The charges against Castro accuse him of 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,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at a news conference Monday. There is a nationwide warrant for his arrest, she said.

“Mr. 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,” Moriarty said. “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.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the charges against Castro.

On the night of January 14, ICE agents confronted Sosa-Celis and another Venezuelan man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, in an immigration enforcement action near their home, according to authorities. Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg during the incident, authorities said.

Moriarty said Tuesday that both men were in Minnesota “lawfully” and “this was a case of mistaken identity.”

The Department of Homeland Security said in its original statement that the shooting occurred after Sosa-Celis and Aljorna allegedly attacked the officer with a shovel and broom. The two men were charged with assaulting the officer, but all charges were later dismissed with prejudice after Minnesota prosecutors said new evidence was “materially inconsistent with the allegations” against the men.