ICE agent accused of shooting man in north Minneapolis arrested in Texas
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent accused of shooting a man in the leg in north Minneapolis and then lying about the attack was arrested in Texas Friday morning, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
On Jan. 14, amid Operation Metro Surge, 52-year-old Christian Castro shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan national, criminal charges say. Castro was charged on May 18 with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
The charges triggered a nationwide warrant for Castro’s arrest, and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators tracked him down in Texas earlier this week. He was taken into custody by Department of Homeland Security agents and Texas Rangers.
“Today’s arrest is a critical step forward in our prosecution of Mr. Castro,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. “The BCA’s investigative work was instrumental in this process and we’re grateful for their collaboration as we pursue accountability for this incident on behalf of Mr. Sosa-Celis, his family, and our community.”
According to the charges, the incident in north Minneapolis started when ICE agents in an unmarked car started chasing a man driving for DoorDash who lived in a home with Sosa-Celis.
The complaint says the man tried to run inside the home on North Sixth Street and North 24th Avenue. Sosa-Celis ran out and saw Castro catch the man and struggle with him. The complaint says Sosa-Celis had a broomstick and swung it at Castro, but did not hit him.
Charges say that Sosa-Celis and the other man made it inside the home and were trying to shut the door when Castro fired through it. Six people, including two children, were inside at the time.
Castro, along with another officer involved in the incident, wrongly accused Sosa-Celis and another man of assaulting them with a shovel and broomstick. The Department of Homeland Security repeated the false allegations. The agents were placed on leave for the lie, and federal assault charges against Sosa-Celis and the other man were dropped.
The shooting happened a week after Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in south Minneapolis. Thousands of federal law enforcement officers had descended upon Minnesota at the time as part of an immigration crackdown.
Castro is the second federal officer to face charges in Minnesota following Operation Metro Surge. Moriarty’s office charged Gregory Morgan Jr., of Maryland, with two counts of second-degree assault for allegedly pointing a gun at two people on a Twin Cities highway in February.
Morgan turned himself in last week and was released on a $100,000 bond.
