ICE agent charged with shooting, wounding man during Operation Metro Surge appears in court in Minneapolis
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A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot and wounded a man in Minneapolis last January — and then allegedly lied to the FBI about it — was arrested Wednesday in Minneapolis, and made a court appearance on Thursday.
Christian Castro, 52, was taken into custody by Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents at about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday in downtown Minneapolis on a warrant for his arrest. He was booked in the Hennepin County Jail just after 4 p.m.
He made an initial appearance in Hennepin County court on Thursday afternoon on state charges, where a judge set bail at $200,000 with conditions.
Castro posted bail and was released at about 6 p.m.
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Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the conditions for bail included pre-signing a waiver of extradition, surrendering his passport, and electronic home monitoring. He’s also not allowed to talk with other ICE agents.
Castro was set to appear in federal court in St. Paul on Friday morning on federal charges.
The charges stem from the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis in north Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge.
Castro shot Sosa-Celis, an immigrant from Venezuela, in his leg on Jan. 14 after firing through the closed door of his home. Castro had pursued Sosa-Celis to the house after a car chase involving Sosa-Celis’ roommate Alfredo Aljorna.
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 surveillance cameras showed that the men had not assaulted anyone.
Castro spent three months in a Texas jail awaiting extradition on state-level assault charges from Hennepin County. He was released from jail on Aug. 27 after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused to approve an extradition request from Minnesota — and after a federal judge in Texas, declined to force the Republican governor’s hand following a lawsuit by DFL Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Castro was then indicted on federal charges of making materially false statements to the FBI following the shooting. The government alleges that Castro told six separate lies to an FBI agent. The case marks the first time a federal agent has been charged in federal court in connection with Operation Metro Surge.
Castro made an initial appearance on the federal charges in Texas earlier this month, and was released ahead of his scheduled federal court appearance in the Twin Cities on Friday.
Attorney Daniel Gerdts said Castro’s attorneys in Texas had been coordinating his voluntary surrender in Minnesota for days. He said state authorities planned to take Castro into custody at his office Wednesday, but that Castro was arrested by Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents on the street nearby instead. He said Castro drove to Minnesota from Texas with his wife to turn himself in and that prosecutors with both the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office were aware of the plan.
“Everybody knew this well in advance,” Gerdts said. “I don't understand why the deception —what that's about, it's just theater as far as I'm concerned.”
A spokesperson for the BCA said agents were involved in negotiating a surrender for Castro, but “when they witnessed him in downtown Minneapolis they saw an opportunity to arrest him for his warrant.”
At a news conference after Thursday’s state court hearing, Moriarty, the county attorney, said Castro did not follow directions.
“When you are a fugitive from justice, who has continually refused to come up here to Minnesota, you do not get to dictate how you are taken into custody,” Moriarty said. “He was specifically told to show up at the BCA and turn himself in. He did not do that, and so the BCA arrested him.”
Moriarty said it should not have taken this long for Castro to face a Minnesota judge.
“He could have waived extradition at any time during that 90 days. He chose not to,” she said.
