Criminal charges have been filed against an ICE agent following the non-fatal shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis back in January.
The officer, Christian Castro, is charged with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at a news conference.
A warrant was issued for his arrest.
A federal officer shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh after he and another officer chased a different man to the apartment duplex where the man and Sosa-Celis lived.
Federal authorities initially accused Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna of beating an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel during the incident, but a federal judge later dismissed the charges and federal officials opened an investigation into whether two immigration officers lied under oath about what happened.
Moriarty says federal officials haven't cooperated or provided any evidence, and in fact, some of the most compelling evidence came from Minneapolis police.
"The Minneapolis police were able, there was a camera there on that corner, and they were able to turn the camera to capture what happened in the front yard," Moriarty explains. "I think it was extremely important. Anytime that you have video which contradicts what an ICE agent, or frankly anybody says, that's very compelling evidence."
The city of Minneapolis last month released video of the incident captured from a distance by a city-owned security camera.
The administration sent thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area as part of President Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, called Operation Metro Surge its largest immigration enforcement operation ever and deemed it a success.
But tensions mounted during the weekslong campaign and the shooting deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers provoked mass unrest and questions about officers’ conduct.
Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, has been conducting investigations into multiple incidents and filed charges last month against an ICE agent for alleged actions while on duty.
Minnesota leaders and the Trump administration have since clashed over which has the authority to investigate and prosecute officers for conduct while on duty. The Trump administration has suggested that Minnesota officials don’t have jurisdiction.
State officials have said they don’t trust the federal government to investigate itself or hold officers accountable.
"We did not have cooperation of anyone at the federal government to give us any of the evidence that we have," added Moriarty. "We still don't have any evidence that they might have collected."
Hennepin County continues to investigate Good's and Pretti’s killings and sued the administration in March over access to evidence in the two cases, as well as in the case against Sosa-Celis. Although Moriarty hasn't charged anyone in either killing, she has said she's confident her office's investigations will bring transparency, even if not criminal prosecution.
Associated Press reporters Hannah Fingerhut and Tim Sullivan contributed to this story.
