New surveillance footage released in north Minneapolis ICE shooting agents lied about under oath
Minneapolis officials have released surveillance footage of a federal officer shooting a man on the city's north side in January. The release comes nearly two months after the officers involved were reprimanded for lying about the encounter.
Two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were placed on leave for lying under oath about the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. The Department of Homeland Security itself repeated the officers' false narrative about Sosa-Celis and another man assaulting them with a shovel and broomstick, and federal assault charges against the two men were dropped.
The new video from Minneapolis, captured on a city-owned camera about half a block away from where the shooting happened, does little to elucidate the events. A federal agent can be seen tackling a man to the ground and struggling with him. Because of the distance, quality and lack of sound, it's unclear when the shooting happens, though city officials say it is in the footage.
A man is seen holding a shovel in the video, but he tosses it aside before the federal agent approaches. It can be seen on the ground during the entirety of the encounter.
The relevant portion of the 9-minute video begins with a car driving onto a sidewalk before the driver gets out and is chased on foot by what appears to be a federal officer. It also shows additional authorities responding to the scene after the shooting.
Minneapolis posted the footage publicly on its website.
"The video makes it crystal clear that, just like in other situations during Operation Metro Surge, the federal government's account of what happened simply does not match the facts," Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.
An attorney for one of the two men shot said the newly released video is being used in both state and federal investigations.
The New York Times reports "prosecutors did not watch the footage...until nearly three weeks after they filed charges against the two men."
An ICE officer shot Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan national, in the leg near North Sixth Street and North 24th Avenue on Jan. 14. The shooting came a week after federal agents in Minneapolis killed Renee Good and 10 days before the federal killing of Alex Pretti.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Hennepin County District Attorney Mary Moriarty and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans have sued the Trump administration over those federal shootings. The lawsuit alleges the U.S. Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security have blocked state investigators from accessing the evidence they need to investigate all three shootings.