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Crime, Law and Justice
Matt Sepic
Minneapolis

ICE agent indictment includes new details of shooting that wounded Venezuelan man

A photo of an incident
A federal agent is pictured running toward a man later identified as Alfredo Aljorna, who is lying on the sidewalk. According to a witness in the house, Aljorna struggled with the agent before Aljorna's friend Julio Sosa-Celis helped pull him away. The video contradicts the agent's claim that the men assaulted him with a broom and shovel.
Courtesy image

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A federal indictment unsealed Friday includes new details about a shooting in which an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent wounded a young Venezuelan man after firing a round through the closed door of his home during the Trump administration’s immigration operation in Minnesota.

Agent Christian Castro is charged with making materially false statements to the FBI following the Jan. 14 incident. Julio Sosa Celis, 24, suffered a gunshot wound to his leg.

Castro fired the shot after chasing a vehicle driven by Sosa Celis’ roommate Alfredo Aljorna that ended at their north Minneapolis duplex.

Two days after the shooting, federal prosecutors relied on Castro’s narrative to charge Aljorna and Sosa Celis with assaulting a federal agent. Prosecutors dropped the charges in February after video from the city’s Milestone surveillance cameras showed that the men had not assaulted anyone.

Federal prosecutors had considered more serious civil rights charges against Castro but ultimately chose to present only the false statements case to a grand jury in Minneapolis, which returned the indictment on Wednesday. While the government moved quickly to charge Aljorna and Sosa Celis, the charges against Castro come more than seven months after the incident.

The government alleges that Castro told six separate lies to an FBI agent, including that an unknown man grabbed a red broom and began hitting him with it; a third, nonexistent man struck Castro with a black snow shovel; Aljorna hit Castro with a red broom; Castro tried to block strikes from the broom; fired while on his back “in the general direction of the men” as they were running toward the house; and had tangled with Aljorna on the ground for three minutes. The video shows Castro fighting with Aljorna for just 11 seconds, and Castro is seen shooting at the door from a standing position.

The indictment notes that Castro joined ICE in September 2025 after serving about eight years as a Border Patrol agent. In a statement to MPR News on Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security said that Castro has been suspended without pay and that “[l]ying under oath is a serious federal offense.”

Castro, 52, turned himself in to federal authorities in Texas, where he had spent three months in jail awaiting extradition on state-level assault charges from Hennepin County. Castro was released from jail Aug. 27 after Gov. Greg Abbott did not approve an extradition request from Minnesota, and a federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, declined to force the Republican governor’s hand following a lawsuit by DFL Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Castro made his initial appearance in a McAllen, Texas federal courtroom on Friday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan Alanis ordered Castro’s release on $75,000 unsecured bond and is requiring Castro to turn in his passport and submit to GPS location monitoring. Castro is scheduled to appear in Minnesota federal court on Sept. 18.

While the federal case will likely take priority, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that it will expedite Castro’s return to Minnesota.

“Despite Gov. Abbott’s best efforts to shield Mr. Castro, we will see him soon,” Moriarty, a DFLer, said in a statement.

The case marks the first time a federal agent has been charged in federal court in connection with Operation Metro Surge. Authorities have given no indication whether they plan to file charges against the agents who fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January.

In a statement to MPR News on Thursday, Sosa Celis’ attorney Robin Wolpert said that the charges against Castro are inadequate.

“Mr. Castro has been indicted for making false statements,” Wolpert writes. “But he made them to cover up the fact that he shot my client through the door of an occupied house without a self-defense justification. Although the evidence strongly supports civil rights charges, the federal government has grossly undercharged this case. Mr. Sosa Celis wants Mr. Castro to be held fully accountable for his crimes.”

The ACLU of Minnesota said in a separate statement that it plans to help Sosa Celis seek financial damages from the federal government.