Federal prosecutors have indicted a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, Christian Castro, on six counts of making false statements to investigators regarding a shooting incident in Minnesota that left a Venezuelan man wounded. The indictment was issued by a federal grand jury on Wednesday but has not yet been formally unsealed.<\/p>\n
Castro, a Texas resident, was previously charged in May by state prosecutors but remained at large after Texas Governor Greg Abbott declined to extradite him. Following a legal dispute, Castro was released from a Texas jail earlier this week. Federal sources indicated that law enforcement agencies were actively locating him and expected him to be taken into custody by Friday.<\/p>\n
The incident occurred in January during a surge in federal immigration enforcement activities in the state. It followed closely behind the killing of Renee Good by federal agents. According to initial reports from the Department of Homeland Security, Castro claimed he was attacked by two men wielding a broom handle and a snow shovel after a vehicle crash, necessitating a “defensive shot.” One of the men struck by the bullet was identified as Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.<\/p>\n
However, an FBI affidavit filed in connection with charges against Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna presented a conflicting narrative. The affidavit alleged that Aljorna fled the scene, while Sosa-Celis had initially struck Castro with a broomstick. Additionally, cellphone footage reviewed by media outlets showed a woman informing 911 dispatchers that her husband was pursued by agents before being shot in front of his family.<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors dismissed the original charges against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna in February, citing newly discovered evidence that was materially inconsistent with the allegations. Todd Lyons, then-acting head of ICE, stated that video evidence contradicted the sworn testimony provided by Castro and a second officer. Both officers were subsequently placed on administrative leave, and Castro has since been suspended without pay.<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/prod.vodvideo.cbsnews.com\/cbsnews\/vr\/hls\/4793894_hls\/master.m3u8<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ICE officer Christian Castro faces federal charges for allegedly lying about a January shooting that injured a Venezuelan immigrant in Minnesota.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[364,232,488,363,26],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-immigration","tag-justice","tag-law-enforcement","tag-minnesota","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions\/217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}