A federal prosecutor who was investigating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer over the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minnesota has been dismissed, according to people familiar with the matter.
Assistant US Attorney Matthew Evans had been examining whether ICE officer Christian Castro violated the victim’s civil rights during the January incident in Minneapolis. Three sources said the Justice Department is now investigating Evans, with two saying the inquiry centres on allegations that he leaked information about the case.
The development came as federal prosecutors charged Castro with making false statements about the shooting. A grand jury returned a six-count indictment on Wednesday, but it remained sealed. Castro was taken into federal custody in Texas on Thursday and was expected to appear in court on Friday.
Earlier this week, Evans reportedly told lawyers representing Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and other victims that Castro would face false-statements charges rather than a more serious allegation of depriving people of their constitutional rights while acting under colour of law.
“This is being directed by the Main Justice and the US Attorney,” Evans reportedly wrote in an email seen by ProPublica. “I objected in the strongest possible terms and fought it as hard as I could. It wasn’t enough.” CBS News said it had not obtained the email.
The Justice Department has not publicly explained Evans’s dismissal. Sources told ABC News that the department disputes his account of the investigation and that the civil-rights inquiry into Castro may still be continuing.
The Minnesota shooting investigation
The case stems from a 14 January shooting during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis area. Sosa-Celis, 24, was shot in the leg after an encounter with ICE agents outside a home.
Federal prosecutors initially charged Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna with assaulting, resisting or obstructing federal officers. The Department of Homeland Security said at the time that Sosa-Celis had fled a traffic stop and that two men attacked an ICE agent with a shovel and a broomstick before the officer fired in self-defence.
But an FBI affidavit later gave a different account, alleging that Aljorna was the man who fled the traffic stop and that Sosa-Celis struck Castro with a broomstick as the agent attempted to arrest Aljorna. The federal government subsequently abandoned the case against both men, citing newly discovered evidence that was materially inconsistent with the original allegations.
Video evidence also raised questions about the official account. Footage showed the struggle involving the men lasted considerably less than the three minutes described by Castro, while a separate recording captured a woman telling emergency operators that her husband had been chased by ICE agents and shot outside the family home.
Todd Lyons, who led ICE at the time, said a review of video had found that two officers made untruthful statements under oath. He said they would be placed on administrative leave and could face criminal prosecution.
Castro, 52, was charged separately in Minnesota in May with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. Prosecutors allege that he fired through the front door of the home while standing in the garden, knowing people had entered the property.
He was arrested in Texas but remained there during a dispute over extradition. Texas Governor Greg Abbott declined to return him to Minnesota, and a judge later rejected the state’s request to compel his transfer. Castro was released from a Texas jail last week.
The federal case marks the first known prosecution of an immigration officer over conduct during Operation Metro Surge, the large-scale federal deployment that brought thousands of agents to the Minneapolis area. Castro is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
