Inset: President Donald Trump walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File). Background: Demonstrators gather in south Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 24, 2026, after a man is shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents earlier that morning, according to officials. (Christian Zander/NurPhoto via AP).
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was criminally charged in Minnesota on Monday after shooting an innocent man and then lying about the circumstances of that incident, prosecutors say.
Christian Castro, 52, stands accused of four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime, according to a press release issued by the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.
The altercation occurred around 7 p.m. on Jan. 14, outside a duplex in Minneapolis and led to Julio Sosa-Celis, 24, being shot in the leg.
The Trump administration issued a press release the next day. In the press release, federal law enforcement lied about the events leading up to the shooting, according to county law enforcement.
Both federal and county officials agree that people had just run inside the residence in question — with ICE agents in pursuit of Sosa-Celis following a traffic stop. But from there, the stories drastically diverge.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says the three Venezuelan immigrants were to blame for the ensuing violence.
"The law enforcement officer pursued Sosa-Celis also on foot, caught up to him, and attempted to apprehend him when Sosa-Celis began to resist and violently assault the officer," the federal account reads. "While Sosa-Celis and law enforcement were in a struggle on the ground, two subjects came out of a nearby apartment and attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle."
The DHS press release contains four separate iterations of the claim that Sosa-Celis' compatriots used "a shovel and broom handle" or "a shovel or broom stick" or "snow shovels and the handles of brooms" to "beat" the federal agent who reacted with "a defensive shot."
"What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of federal law enforcement," then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in the press release. "Our officer was ambushed and attacked."
But Hennepin County says that entire narrative was fabricated.
Rather, prosecutors say, Castro fired through the front door of the residence "knowing there were people who had just run inside."
"Mr. Castro was not hit with any shovels, brooms, or weapons of any kind at any time during this incident," county law enforcement says. "He was outside the house and alone in the front yard when he fired his weapon through the front door of the home."
Minneapolis-area officials also take issue with the DHS press release for still being online and call out the federal government's messaging for allegedly containing "dozens of false statements."
The incident occurred near the height of "Operation Metro Surge," when thousands of ICE and other immigration agents began to sweep the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul for immigrants in the massive roundup. Later, the Trump administration boasted that this controversial campaign was "the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out."
The county equivalent of the district attorney reiterated her office's understanding of the incident and took the opportunity to stress that state law also applies to federal agents who break it.
"Mr. Castro fired his weapon through the front door of the home while standing alone in the front yard, under no physical threat or duress, and knowing there were people who had just run inside," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said when announcing the charges. "Mr. Castro is an ICE agent. But his federal badge does not make him immune from state charges for his criminal conduct in Minnesota."
The county says it expects the Trump administration to try to remove the case against the ICE agent to federal court — and says it is prepared for that eventuality. The state will pursue the case with the help of the Minnesota Attorney General's Office if the case is removed, the press release says.
"Nobody is above the law, including ICE agents," Attorney General Keith Ellison said. "The State of Minnesota must hold people accountable for violating the law and for harming Minnesotans. I support the filing of these charges, and I am working closely with Hennepin County Attorney Moriarty to ensure we reach a just outcome here."