US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro has pleaded not guilty to six federal counts alleging he made false statements about a shooting in Minneapolis during the Operation Metro Surge immigration crackdown.
Castro appeared before a federal court in Texas on Friday after surrendering to authorities the previous evening. He was released on an unsecured $75,000 bond and ordered to wear a GPS ankle monitor.
The allegations concern the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who was wounded in the leg outside a home in north Minneapolis on 14 January. Prosecutors say Castro fired through the front door as Sosa-Celis and another man ran inside.
What the federal indictment alleges
According to the unsealed indictment, Castro told an FBI agent that he had been attacked with a red broom and a snow shovel while trying to detain a man outside the property.
He allegedly claimed he fired while on the ground as the men fled. Prosecutors say he also falsely described the incident as involving a third attacker and exaggerated the length of the struggle.
The indictment instead alleges that Castro briefly grappled with the other man before Sosa-Celis intervened. The pair then ran towards the house, with Castro standing several feet from the entrance when he fired a shot through the closing door.
Two children aged one and four adults were inside the property at the time, according to court documents. Sosa-Celis was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg.
Surveillance footage obtained during the investigation cast doubt on the agents’ account of the confrontation. Federal assault charges against Sosa-Celis and the other man were later dropped.
Separate Minnesota prosecution
Castro is also facing state charges in Minnesota, including four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. He has not entered a plea to those allegations.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says the state case relates to the same shooting. Minnesota prosecutors allege that Castro fired into an occupied home and then gave a false account of what had happened.
Castro was arrested in Texas in May on a Minnesota warrant, but remained there after Governor Greg Abbott did not immediately approve his extradition. He was released last week after reaching the state’s 90-day detention limit.
The federal indictment has now brought him back into custody, although the circumstances of the Minnesota extradition dispute remain separate from the federal case.
Castro has been suspended without pay by the Department of Homeland Security. A person familiar with the federal investigation told the Associated Press that a separate civil rights inquiry into the shooting is continuing and that further charges remain possible.
