Bullet passed through victim’s leg and lodged in child’s bedroom wall
ICE agent Christian Castro made his first appearance in Hennepin County state court Thursday on charges of assault and falsely reporting a crime in connection with the January shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Sosa-Celis, according to NPR.
Castro, 52, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, ending a standoff in which Texas Governor Greg Abbott delayed signing an extradition warrant. Castro had traveled to Minnesota from Texas, where authorities had released him from jail in August.
In court, Castro appeared handcuffed and in an orange jumpsuit, said very little during the hearing, and signed a pre-waiver of extradition, agreeing to immediately return to Minnesota if he violates his conditions of release. “The state of Minnesota certainly has an interest in not being back in the frustrating situation we were in last month,” Senior Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Joshua Larson said in court Thursday, according to NPR.
Castro’s next appearance in state court is set for Nov. 3. He is also expected to appear in federal court Friday and remains in a Minnesota county jail.
According to state authorities, on Jan. 14 Castro allegedly shot through the front door of a house Sosa-Celis had entered while fleeing. The bullet passed through Sosa-Celis’s leg and lodged in the wall of a child’s bedroom.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the Justice Department initially charged Sosa-Celis and another man with assault. Federal prosecutors later dropped those charges after acknowledging that the officers involved, including Castro, had made “untruthful statements” about the incident.
Minnesota subsequently charged Castro with several counts of assault and falsely reporting a crime. Castro then became the center of a months-long extradition fight between Minnesota and Texas, with Minnesota issuing a nationwide warrant for his arrest while not knowing his location.
In May, Castro was found in Texas. Texas Rangers and Department of Homeland Security agents arrested him there, and he remained in a Texas county jail for three months as Governor Abbott delayed signing an extradition warrant.
Last month, Minnesota sued Texas over the extradition, alleging that Texas’s refusal to send Castro to Minnesota at Governor Tim Walz’s request was illegal. A federal judge declined to intervene. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, speaking at a press conference after Thursday’s court appearance, said the state had dismissed the lawsuit.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, speaking at a press conference following the hearing, said: “You do not get to dictate how you are taken into custody.” One of Castro’s lawyers, Daniel Gerdts, said in court that Castro had planned to self-surrender to Minnesota state authorities at the lawyer’s downtown Minneapolis office but was arrested before he could do so.
Federal prosecutors have also charged Castro with lying to investigators about the shooting, though they did not bring any civil rights charges against Castro for the shooting itself.
Castro remains in a Minnesota county jail. One of his attorneys, Rolando Cantu, told NPR that the defense plans to plead not guilty to both the federal and state charges. “We just wanted to stress, you know, we’re anxious. We’re ready to fight this case in court, so we’re looking forward to it,” Cantu said.