Newly obtained videos of the moments immediately after Wednesday’s incident in which an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot a Venezuelan man in the leg in Minneapolis appear to contradict at least some of ICE’s claims about the events leading up to the shooting.
In a statement Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said the agent targeted, chased and then shot the man in self-defense while the agent was being “shot at” by three people. But the accounts in the videos contradict the identity of the person DHS says federal agents followed and the details of the shooting itself.
According to DHS, federal agents were conducting a “targeted traffic stop” when, they say, Julio Sosa-Celis, an undocumented Venezuelan national, resisted arrest and began “violently attacking” one of its officers. During the struggle, DHS said in the statement, two more people came out of a nearby apartment and attacked the officer using a snow shovel and a broom handle.
According to DHS, Sosa-Celis “broke loose” and began hitting an agent “with a shovel or a broom.” DHS says the agent “then fired a defensive shot,” which struck Sosa-Celis in the leg.
The three people who allegedly assaulted the officer ran into the block and barricaded themselves before agents arrested all three, DHS said.
But videos from Sosa-Celis’ family seem to tell a different story. One of them shows a video call made by Sosa-Celis’ partner, reviewed by CNN, frantically describing to family members what she says happened, according to Alicia Celis, Sosa-Celis’ mother, who spoke to CNN.
The appeal appears to contradict ICE’s claims in DHS’s Thursday statement. There, ICE said it was Sosa-Celis who was driving a vehicle that crashed and Sosa-Celis who fled on foot before agents wrestled him to the ground.
In the appeal, Sosa-Celis’ partner appears to say that the driver of the car was not Sosa-Celis, but Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna — another man detained by ICE during the same raid.
“Julio arrived first. They were chasing Alfredo – he had to jump out of the car,” Sosa-Celis’ partner says during the call. “He ran and they jumped on top of him. Then Julio opened the door and they shot.”
The incident marks the second time in a week that an immigration agent has shot someone while on duty, sparking heated clashes in Minnesota and prompting President Donald Trump to threaten to use the Insurgent Act. Exactly one week earlier, an ICE agent in Minneapolis shot and killed Renee Good, a mother of three, in her vehicle.
Sosa-Celis was taken to an ambulance and hospitalized; the city of Minneapolis confirmed he had non-life threatening injuries. CNN has reached out to city officials to determine if he is still hospitalized.
In a statement to CNN on Saturday, DHS stood by its initial statement that the subject of Wednesday’s raid was Sosa-Celis and that he was driving the vehicle.
Live Facebook footage challenges DHS account
The family’s version of events, heard in a Facebook Live video as family members frantically called 911 for help, also differed from the DHS statement.
In the video, the family tells a 911 dispatcher that agents shot Sosa-Celis as he tried to enter his home.
Residents confront federal agents following a shooting Wednesday in Minneapolis. – Scott Olson/Getty Images
“They followed my husband for about 30 minutes. They tried to hit him. He got home and because I closed the door, they shot him!” a woman is heard telling the dispatcher. It is not clear who is speaking or if Sosa-Celis is the person being referred to as being followed.
Throughout the initial footage, several family members can be heard pleading with dispatch for help.
“Where did they shoot your cousin?” a 911 dispatcher asks the family on the phone. “In the leg! The leg! Please help us! We have children!” a man answers.
“We have a toddler in the house!” says a woman in the background. “And if I shoot?” another woman asks.
“Do you know who shot them?” asks the dispatcher of the group. “ICE people! ICE people!” a man answers.
The stream ends with the family continuing to talk to the dispatcher on the phone.
Another video obtained by CNN shows what was happening outside the home while the family waited inside.
In the video, agents are seen approaching the house and setting off a flash-bang. Smoke is seen and noises are heard as someone says, “I’m in! There’s more than a dozen of them.”
The mothers of the detained men dispute the DHS statement
Alicia Celis also told CNN that she only spoke to her son once, briefly, at the hospital after the shooting. Celis said she did not ask her son about ICE’s claim that he attacked agents with a broom or shovel.
“(Julio) just called me to tell me it was okay, not to worry and to stay calm and not cry,” Celis said.
In the DHS statement Thursday, ICE said the agent who shot Sosa-Celis did so after following him on foot after Sosa-Celis crashed into a parked car. DHS also described the agent as “fearing for his life” when he fired the shot. But in an interview with CNN, Mabel Aljorna, the mother of Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, disputed both claims based on the conversation with her son immediately after the shooting.
Aljorna said her son told her he was the one being chased on foot by ICE and that Sosa-Celis was already inside the house when the agent shot him — not outside, where ICE says the agent fired.
“He said, ‘Mom, ICE was after me. Once we got inside, they shot Julio.”
After ICE shot and then detained Sosa-Celis, Sosa-Celis joined a Facebook live stream while in the hospital. In that video, he says there was a physical confrontation between him and the agents before the shooting as he tried to help Aljorna into the home.
Members of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension search for evidence Thursday near the scene of a shooting of federal agents the night before in Minneapolis. – Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
However, he also claims he was inside the house and the ICE agent was outside — and the two were separated by a closed door — when the agent shot him, while Sosa-Celis was locking the door and Aljorna was already inside.
“What happened was ICE followed my cousin from afar. He came here and tried to come into the house,” Sosa-Celis said. “He got there and was able to escape. We fought them off. We were able to help my cousin get in. And when I tried to close the door, ICE shot me in the leg.”
“The shot that was fired happened when my cousin was able to escape and went inside,” Sosa-Celis said on the live stream. “I closed the door. And when I locked it, I heard the gunshot and that’s when I realized I was shot in the leg.”
CNN visited the home on Friday. The front door was boarded up and no evidence was found as to the condition of the front door at the time of the shooting.
CNN was unable to directly reach Sosa-Celis and Aljorna for comment.
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