New video contradicts ICE's original story about North Minneapolis shooting
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Protestors faced police in riot gear shortly after ICE agents shot a Venezuelan man in North Minneapolis on Jan. 14. Photo: Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images
Newly released video contradicts federal claims that two Venezuelan immigrants assaulted an ICE agent with a snow shovel before an agent shot one of them during Operation Metro Surge.
Why it matters: The footage raises questions about why it took federal officials weeks to back off from their original story about — and drop criminal charges against — the wounded Julio Sosa-Celis and his roommate, Alfredo Aljorna.
- The New York Times, which was first to publish the video, reported that authorities had access to the footage "within hours of the shooting."
The big picture: Minneapolis was on edge when the agents shot Sosa-Celis on Jan. 14, just one week after Renee Good's killing.
Catch up quick: The incident began after ICE agents attempted to pull over Aljorna, leading to a nearly 20-minute car chase.
- The pursuit ended when Aljorna veered into a snowbank near his North Side home and took off running. An agent chased him on foot.
The city released surveillance footage Monday from North 24th and Lyndale avenues, showing what happened next:
- Sosa-Celis was waiting outside with a shovel, but flung it into the snow and retreated as Aljorna and the agent ran toward the home.
- Aljorna slipped, landing just short of the porch. A 12-second scuffle on the sidewalk ensued between the three men.
- The grainy footage shows Sosa-Celis in the doorway with the silhouette of an object that could be a broom.
The scuffle ended when Aljorna wriggled out of his jacket and he and Sosa-Celis ran inside.
- After the men disappear from view, the video — which has no audio and is partially obscured by a tree — shows the agent rise into a firing stance. Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg.
In the aftermath, federal investigators claimed Sosa-Celis beat the agent with a broom and snow shovel.
- In a court filing, defense attorney Robin Wolpert wrote that Sosa-Celis threw a broom in the agent's direction, but denied he'd beaten the agent with a broom or a shovel.
Reality check: Minneapolis police shared this video with state investigators who relayed it to their federal counterparts — but prosecutors didn't watch it before filing charges, the Times reported.
- A month later, prosecutors dropped charges against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna after Department of Homeland Security officials admitted that video evidence showed two ICE agents' sworn testimony about the incident was "untruthful."
- The agents were placed on administrative leave and could face criminal perjury charges.
- The agents "hung themselves," Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara recently told the Star Tribune.
Zoom out: Aljorna and Sosa-Celis had been granted temporary protected status in 2024, which shielded them from deportation until President Trump revoked that status for Venezuelans last year.
- After their arrests, Aljorna and Sosa-Celis were jailed for weeks, and their girlfriends were sent to an immigration detention camp in El Paso.
The bottom line: "It is a grave injustice," Wolpert told Sahan Journal. The dismissal of charges against the Venezuelan men may be "a 180-degree turn, but a lot of suffering happened in between."
More from Axios: