An ICE agent’s bullet tore through a Minneapolis door and lodged in a child’s room wall, and now he faces charges for lying about it

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.

Castro’s account was that Sosa-Celis and another man attacked federal agents with a broom and snow shovel. Prosecutors later dropped the charges after reviewing evidence that conflicted with the officers’ account, including video evidence challenging their version.

The footage showed Sosa-Celis dropping the shovel and moving toward the house before an agent fired. The bullet hit him in the leg and ended up in a wall of the child’s room, according to prosecutors.

The case also became more complicated when Minnesota tried to bring Castro back from Texas to face the state charges. Texas authorities did not immediately approve the extradition request, and Castro was released from a Texas jail on August 27 after being held there while Minnesota sought his return.

Federal prosecutors had considered civil rights charges against Castro over the shooting, but those charges were not filed. The investigation into what happened during the January operation has continued alongside the state and federal cases.

The shooting also became part of a wider debate over how federal immigration officers operate in Minneapolis. That scrutiny included a push for body cameras, while officials and lawmakers also called for more transparency around federal immigration enforcement.

Sosa-Celis is also taking legal action over the shooting. The ACLU of Minnesota announced on September 3 that it would represent him in a Federal Tort Claims Act case seeking damages from the federal government.