Tensions rose in Minnespolis this winter after federal agents fatally shot U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti and shot and wounded Venzuelan immigrant Julio Sosa-Celis in three separate incidents this winter. An ICE agent was charged Monday in Sosa-Celis’ shooting. File photo by Craig Lassig/EPA
May 18 (UPI) — Minnesota prosecutors charged an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent with four counts of assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime Monday in connection with the January shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant.
There is a nationwide warrant for the arrest of the agent, Christian Castro, 52, NBC News reported. Castro is accused of shooting Julio Sosa-Celis through the front door of a home “with the intent to cause fear of immediate bodily harm or death to the four adults who were just inside the door,” said Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County attorney.
Castro knew the people presented no threat and the bullet struck Sosa-Celis in the leg before traveling through a closet and lodging in the wall of a child’s bedroom, Moriarty said. Sosa-Celis and another Venezuelan man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, fled to the home after an earlier ICE stop.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security said in their original statement that Sosa-Celis and Aljorna attacked the agent with a broom and shovel before the shooting. Kristi Noem, then the Homeland Security chief, described it as “an attempted murder of law enforcement,” The New York Times reported.
The two men were charged with assault, but these charges were dismissed “with prejudice” after video footage showed no signs of an attack, NBC News reported.
“His criminal conduct does not make him immune from state charges for his criminal conduct in Minnesota,” Moriarty said of Castro.
ICE agents shot three people during the agency’s immigration actions early this year in Minnesota: Sosa-Celis, who survived, and U.S.citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Good and Pretti were killed. Minnesota’s attorney general and the Hennepin County attorney have asked the federal government to provide evidence from all three shootings, a lawsuit that is unresolved, The New York Times reported.
Earlier in May, Moriarty’s office also charged ICE agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon for actions in February. Moriarty said Morgan was driving an SUV with no markings when he pulled up alongside another vehicle and pointed his weapon at those inside.
The Department of Homeland Security did not comment on either case.
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