Overview
- Minnesota prosecutors said investigators located and arrested 52-year-old Christian Castro in Texas on Friday after a nationwide warrant was issued on May 18 for four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
- The charges accuse Castro of firing a round through the front door of a north Minneapolis duplex on January 14 that struck Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg and lodged in a child’s bedroom wall while people were inside the home.
- Surveillance video, witness statements and physical evidence later contradicted Castro’s account that he was attacked with a broom and shovel, leading federal prosecutors to drop charges against Sosa-Celis and to place Castro and another agent on administrative leave while federal investigations proceed.
- Hennepin County officials say they expect the defense to seek to move the case to federal court under the Supremacy Clause but added they will continue state prosecution if removal is granted and that a state conviction would not be eligible for a presidential pardon.
- The arrest is the latest development in broader legal and public scrutiny of Operation Metro Surge, which deployed thousands of federal agents to the Twin Cities and has produced multiple contested officer-involved shootings and ongoing fights over access to federal evidence.