Newly released surveillance footage from Minneapolis appears to contradict the initial account given by federal authorities about the January shooting of a Venezuelan migrant during an encounter with immigration agents.
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The video, published by city officials on Monday, shows events leading up to the 14 January shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), had previously said an officer fired after being attacked with a shovel and other objects during an altercation.
However, the footage appears to raise questions about that description of events.
Footage shows brief struggle
The grainy video, filmed from a distance in low light by city-owned cameras, shows a confrontation between several men shortly before the shooting.
In the recording, one man runs up a street while another follows him. The first man briefly falls, then stands and continues moving toward a nearby house. The two men then engage in a short struggle on the ground as federal agents approach.
The footage appears to show a shovel being discarded before physical contact occurs.
Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg during the incident.
While the images are unclear, the sequence shown in the video does not appear to match earlier claims that an officer was struck with a shovel during the confrontation.
Original DHS account
After the incident, DHS said the encounter followed a vehicle chase involving a Venezuelan national who was in the United States without legal status.
According to the department’s initial statement, the individual exited his vehicle and became involved in an altercation with a federal officer. Officials said the agent fired “defensive shots” after being attacked and “fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals”.
Two men — Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Sosa-Celis — were subsequently charged with forcibly assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers.
Those charges were dropped in February after ICE officials said two agents appeared to have provided false statements about the incident.
Questions over investigation
The footage released by Minneapolis was first reported by the New York Times. The city provided the video publicly but said it would not offer further comment or additional context.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the video raised serious concerns about the federal account of events.
In a statement to media outlets, he said the footage “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”.
The New York Times also reported that federal investigators had obtained the video within hours of the shooting but did not review it until nearly three weeks after the two migrants had been charged.
Wider tensions
The shooting became one of several violent incidents involving immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis during a period of intensified federal operations in the city.
Two fatal shootings involving U.S. citizens — Alex Pretti and Renee Good — also occurred in encounters with ICE agents, events that contributed to protests in the city amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The officers involved in the January shooting have not been publicly identified. They were placed on administrative leave while internal and criminal investigations into the incident continue.
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Adapted by ASEAN Now. Source 8 April 2026
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