A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer has been charged with lying to federal investigators about the events preceding the shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis earlier this year, according to a person familiar with the matter. The individual, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly, identified the officer as Christian Castro.
Castro is accused of making false statements to federal investigators regarding the January incident in which authorities allege he shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg. The federal charge comes after Castro's recent release from jail. Texas officials had initially delayed his extradition to Minnesota, where he faces separate charges of assault and false reporting of a crime related to the same shooting.
Initially, federal authorities accused Sosa-Celis and another man of assaulting an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel during the confrontation. However, charges against the two men were dropped after video evidence suggested that the officers involved might have provided false accounts of the encounter. This led to an investigation into the officers' conduct.
Reports indicate that a federal prosecutor involved in the case informed lawyers for Sosa-Celis and other individuals that Justice Department officials had prevented him from pursuing a more serious civil rights charge against Castro. However, the person familiar with the investigation disputed this characterization, stating that the probe is ongoing and no final decisions have been made regarding additional charges. The prosecutor was reportedly fired on Thursday and is now under investigation for alleged obstruction of a grand jury probe.