Minnesota authorities said Monday they have charged an ICE agent with assault and filing a false report in the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant at the height of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge.
Christian Castro is charged with four counts of assault in the second degree and one count of falsely reporting a crime, and has a warrant out for his arrest, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said.
During “Operation Metro Surge,” which began in December last year, Castro shot “through the front door of a residence with the intent to cause of immediately bodily harm or death to the four adults who were just inside the door,” Moriarty said.
Castro fired at a home on Jan. 14 “knowing there were people who had just run inside who presented absolutely no threat to him or anyone else,” Moriarty said. She said a bullet traveled through the door, hitting Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg before ending up in the wall of a child’s bedroom.
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Sosa-Celis was hospitalized, and the Department of Homeland Security initially accused him and another person of attacking an ICE officer, now known to be Castro, “with a shovel or broom stick.” In a press release after the shooting, the DHS said that the officer fired “a defensive shot to defend his life.”
Federal charges later dismissed those charges, indicating they were reviewing the statements officers gave at the time.
“A violent crime did occur that night, but it was Mr. Castro who committed it,” Moriarity said.
Minnesota law enforcement officials sued the Trump administration in March over its refusal to include them in investigations into federal officer-involved shootings, including the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Agents from the FBI and Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension began working together on Good’s case, even conducting joint interviews, as is typical, before the federal agency reversed course and cut off the state from collaboration, according to the BCA. Hennepin County has also launched its own investigations as a result.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.