ICE Agent Faces Assault Charges After Shooting Venezuelan Man Through Apartment Door

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has been charged in the nonfatal shooting of a Venezuelan man during a January incident in north Minneapolis. On May 18, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced charges against Christian Castro, an ICE agent accused of shooting Julio Sosa-Celis on January 14.

According to attorney Mary Moriarty, Castro faces four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. A nationwide warrant has also been issued for his arrest.

According to charging documents, the incident began at approximately 6:43 p.m., when the Minneapolis Police Department received a report from a 911 dispatcher stating that agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were pursuing a man driving a Ford Focus. Authorities said the man, later identified as Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, was attempting to reach his residence on 24th Avenue North in Minneapolis.

At approximately 6:45 p.m., MPD officers remotely activated a city surveillance camera positioned near Lyndale Avenue and 24th Avenue North and, directed it toward the residence. Investigators said the camera captured the sequence of events that ended with Castro allegedly firing a shot into the occupied duplex, striking Sosa-Celis.

The shooting prompted an investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which recovered footage from the city-owned surveillance camera as part of its review of the incident.

Federal authorities initially claimed that Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna attacked an officer with a broom handle and snow shovel during the encounter. However, a federal judge later dismissed those charges, and federal officials opened an investigation into whether two immigration officers lied under oath about the incident, according to The Independent.

Both men were legally in the United States.

In a statement, Moriarty alleged that Castro fired through the front door of the residence “with the intent to cause fear of immediate bodily harm or death” to four adults standing inside.

“The bullet punched through the front door and struck Mr. Sosa-Celis in the leg before traveling through a closet and lodging in the wall of a child’s bedroom,” Moriarty said.

She further stated that Castro “was not under any physical threat” when he fired his weapon and claimed he “was not hit by a shovel or broom. In fact, he was not hit at all.”

Moriarty also referenced ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, saying he acknowledged that two ICE agents lied in the aftermath of the shooting and that Castro was allegedly one of them.

The county attorney added that the federal cases against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled.

“The crimes that the federal government alleged they committed never occurred,” Moriarty said, criticizing a Department of Homeland Security press release that she said still accuses the men of attempted murder.

“A violent crime did occur that night, but it was Mr. Castro who committed it,” Moriarty added. “He shot through the front door of a home with many people, including children inside. His bullet struck Mr. Sosa-Celis while fortunately missing several others.”

She also emphasized that federal officers are not immune from state prosecution.

“Mr. Castro is an ICE agent, but his federal badge does not make him immune from state charges for his criminal conduct in Minnesota,” Moriarty said. “There is no such thing as absolute immunity for federal officers who commit crimes in this state or any other.”