Feds charge ICE agent over false statements in Minneapolis shooting

Federal prosecutors have charged ICE officer Christian Castro with lying to investigators about a January shooting in Minneapolis in which he shot Venezuelan national Julio Sosa-Celis through the front door of an occupied home, with the bullet ultimately lodging in a child's bedroom wall. The federal charge remains sealed pending Castro's custody.

DHS and Castro initially claimed Sosa-Celis and another man attacked an officer with a broom handle and snow shovel, an account surveillance video later contradicted. The Justice Department had filed federal charges against the two men but dropped them in February after what it called newly discovered evidence.

Minnesota separately charged Castro with assault and false reporting, but a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas declined to extradite him, a decision Texas Governor Greg Abbott praised while Minnesota's attorney general accused Abbott of shielding a violent offender. Castro is the second ICE agent charged over conduct during Operation Metro Surge, and the first prosecuted federally.

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