A federal grand jury has indicted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro on six counts of making false statements to the FBI, accusing him of fabricating a violent attack to explain why he shot a Venezuelan immigrant through a closed door in north Minneapolis. Castro turned himself in this week and made an initial court appearance, according to NBC News.

The shooting happened January 14, 2026, when Castro fired a round that struck 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg after chasing a vehicle driven by Sosa-Celis's roommate, Alfredo Aljorna, back to their duplex. According to the indictment, reported by MPR News, Castro told his DHS superiors he was attacked by an unknown man wielding a red broom, then struck by a second man with a black snow shovel, and that he was on his back grappling with the men for roughly three minutes before he fired. Surveillance video reviewed by investigators shows the actual confrontation lasted about 11 seconds — and prosecutors say several of Castro's specific claims never happened at all.

A rare federal charge against an on-duty agent

Prosecutors initially charged Sosa-Celis with assault, but dropped the case in February once the video contradicted Castro's account. It then took federal investigators roughly seven months to indict Castro himself — compared with two days to charge Sosa-Celis and Aljorna after the shooting, a gap that has drawn criticism from the men's attorneys. The Justice Department is also weighing — but has so far declined to bring — more serious civil rights charges over the shooting itself, according to reporting cited by the Star Tribune. NBC News notes this marks one of the first times the department has charged an officer over conduct during the administration's expanded, highly publicized immigration enforcement operations.

Castro, 52, joined ICE in September 2025 after eight years as a U.S. Border Patrol agent. He was arrested and briefly jailed in Texas — where Gov. Greg Abbott's administration was seen as slow-walking his transfer — before being released on a $75,000 unsecured bond that requires GPS monitoring and surrender of his passport. Minnesota state prosecutors have separately charged him with second-degree assault and filing a false police report, and are now pushing for his extradition to face those counts alongside the federal case.

"He made [false statements] to cover up the fact that he shot my client through the door of an occupied house," said Robin Wolpert, an attorney for Sosa-Celis.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty framed the indictment as vindication after months of jurisdictional wrangling over custody of Castro, saying bluntly: "Despite Gov. Abbott's best efforts to shield Mr. Castro, we will see him soon." Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has likewise said Castro "would face justice in Minnesota."

Castro is due back in federal court in Minnesota on September 18. His attorneys have not publicly detailed a defense strategy. Sosa-Celis's legal team says it is preparing to pursue civil damages once the criminal proceedings move forward, and both the federal false-statements case and the ongoing civil rights review will continue to be watched closely as a test of accountability for agents involved in the administration's aggressive immigration sweeps.