Hennepin County attorney asks Texas governor to sign extradition paperwork for ICE agent charged in shooting
The Hennepin County attorney is asking the governor of Texas to sign the extradition paperwork for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent accused of shooting a man in the leg in north Minneapolis in January, according to a letter sent by Mary Moriarty.
Christian Castro, 52, is charged in Minnesota with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting, according to court documents. Moriarty said in the letter that he was arrested by the Texas Rangers on May 29 and has been at the Cameron County Jail since that time.
"I am writing to request that you review and sign the extradition paperwork for Christian J. Castro, currently held in a Cameron County, Texas, [jail], pursuant to a nationwide warrant issued in Hennepin County, Minnesota," the letter, which was sent on Thursday, said.
The letter went on to say that the Hennepin County Attorney's Office has been working with the prosecuting authority in Cameron County to file the fugitive complaint.
Moriarty said the authority is "ready to present to the Texas judge the information she will need to order extradition" and that the final step is for Abbott to sign the paperwork.
"Texas law, under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act (UCEA), provides a clear framework for interstate extradition. The process has been initiated in full compliance with both Texas and Minnesota statutes, and all procedural requirements have been met," the letter said.
The shooting happened near North Sixth Street and North 24th Avenue during Operation Metro Surge. According to the criminal complaint, ICE agents in an unmarked car started chasing a man who was driving for DoorDash. The man lived in a home with Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, two other adults and two children, which he drove to while being pursued.
The complaint, which cites video evidence and interviews with people involved, said once the man arrived at home, he tried to run inside. Sosa-Celis allegedly ran out of the home and saw an ICE agent, later identified as Castro, catch the man and struggle with him.
Sosa-Celis said he had a broomstick and swung it at Castro, but did not hit him, the court document says. Sosa-Celis and the man then went inside the home, and while they were trying to shut and lock the door, Castro fired through it, hitting Sosa-Celis in the leg, per the complaint.
Sosa-Celis said he and the man "attempted to barricade themselves inside the home" before ICE agents broke windows, used pepper spray and took him and other people in the home into custody, according to the court document. Paramedics allegedly weren't allowed to help Sosa-Celis until around an hour after the shooting, after which time he was taken to a hospital.
Castro told the FBI that two people assaulted him while he struggled with the DoorDash driver — one with a broom and one with a shovel. He said he was in fear of his safety and that he fired the shot before the men entered the home, according to the complaint.
The court document went on to say that Castro's version of the events "is contradicted by the video of the incident," four other accounts from those involved and physical evidence.
If convicted, Castro faces a maximum of over 28 years in prison.