Federal immigration agent Christian Castro is scheduled to appear in a Hennepin County courtroom Thursday for allegedly shooting a man in north Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge and lying about the circumstances that led up to it.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Castro, 52, who is from the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas, in May with four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime. He is expected to make his first appearance in court on the charges at 1:30 p.m. at the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility in downtown Minneapolis.
Castro was arrested in May by the Texas Rangers and held in a Texas jail on the Hennepin County charges. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused to allow Castro’s extradition to Minnesota. Per Texas law, Castro was released from jail late last month after spending 90 days in jail without a court hearing.
Castro was arrested Wednesday by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and remains in custody with bail set at $200,000. His attorney, Daniel Gerdts, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the Hennepin County charges, Castro was working as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent when he and his partner were attempting to apprehend Alfredo Aljorna, a citizen of Venezuela, on Jan. 14. A brief scuffle broke out in front of Aljorna’s north Minneapolis home. Julio Sosa-Celis, Aljorna’s roommate, ran outside to help Aljorna, and both men fled inside the home when Castro drew his gun.
Castro allegedly shot at the two men; the bullet travelled through the front door, struck and wounded Sosa-Celis in the leg and lodged in the closet of a child’s bedroom.
Castro allegedly lied when he told investigators that three men beat him with a broom and a snow shovel, and that he was lying on his back when he fired his gun to protect himself, according to the criminal complaint.
The U.S. Department of Justice indicted Castro separately on Sept. 4 for the same incident. He is charged with six counts of making false statements – one for each lie he allegedly told investigators about the altercation. Castro turned himself into federal custody shortly after the indictment.
The federal indictment included new details, including the allegation that Castro claimed that the scuffle lasted more than three minutes when a city traffic camera obtained by investigators showed it lasted about 11 seconds.
Castro, who is the first federal immigration officer to face federal charges for conduct during Operation Metro Surge, is scheduled to appear at 8 a.m. Friday at the federal courthouse in St. Paul in the federal case.
