The January shooting of a Venezuelan man during an immigration operation in Minneapolis has now led to federal charges against the ICE officer who fired the gun. The officer was already facing state charges in Minnesota over what happened during the encounter.
ICE officer Christian Castro has been federally indicted over statements he allegedly made to investigators about the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, according to The Guardian. Castro is accused of shooting Sosa-Celis in the leg on January 14 during Operation Metro Surge, a federal immigration operation that brought thousands of agents to the Twin Cities.
The shooting first led to criminal charges against Sosa-Celis and another man, who were accused of attacking federal agents with a broom and a snow shovel. Those charges were later dropped after prosecutors reviewed evidence that did not match the government’s account of the encounter.
Castro now faces federal charges
A federal grand jury indicted Castro on six counts of making false statements. He surrendered to federal authorities on September 3 after being released from a Texas jail the previous week. The federal case focuses on statements Castro allegedly made while the shooting was being investigated.
Castro was already facing charges in Minnesota over the same incident. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged him in May with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. Those charges came after an investigation into the shooting of Sosa-Celis…