ICE officer Christian Castro indicted on 6 counts of lying to the FBI about shooting a Venezuelan man through a closed door
ProPublica reports Justice Department leaders in Washington overruled the lead prosecutor, who wanted a civil rights charge; that prosecutor was fired the same day.
A federal grand jury indicted Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro on six counts of making false statements over the Jan. 14, 2026 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant, in Minneapolis. Castro told investigators he was hit twice in the head with a shovel and attacked with a broom handle before he fired. Prosecutors say surveillance video shows Sosa-Celis dropping the shovel and running into the house before Castro reached the door, a city gunshot sensor recorded the shot as Castro's arms were raised toward a closed door, and Castro's medical records show no head injury — only an abrasion near his thumb. The bullet went through the door, struck Sosa-Celis in the leg and lodged in the wall of a child's bedroom. ProPublica reported that Justice Department leadership in Washington overrode the lead federal prosecutor in Minnesota, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans, who wanted a civil rights charge under Section 242. Evans wrote to victims' lawyers: "This is being directed by the Main Justice and the US Attorney. I objected in the strongest possible terms and fought it as hard as I could. It wasn't enough." NBC News reports Evans was fired as the indictment became public on Wednesday, Sept. 3, and that two sources say he is under investigation for alleged obstruction of a grand jury probe. Castro is not in custody. He walked out of a Texas jail last week after roughly three months, once Gov. Greg Abbott declined to sign Minnesota's extradition warrant and the state's 90-day hold expired.
What the video undid after the shooting:
- Federal prosecutors dropped their own assault charges against Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Aljorna, citing evidence "materially inconsistent" with agents' hearing testimony.
- Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had called the encounter "an attempted murder of federal law enforcement."
- Sosa-Celis plans to seek civil damages from the federal government, per the ACLU of Minnesota.
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