Video brings new scrutiny of ICE shooting in US
The city of Minneapolis released a video showing a chase and scuffle that ended in a nonfatal shooting in January and the suspensions of two federal officers involved in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
The video — from a city-owned security camera —captured part of the incident in which federal officers chased a Venezuelan man to his residence. Another Venezuelan man who lives there was shot during the confrontation.
Federal authorities in February dropped all charges against the two immigrants and opened a criminal investigation into whether two immigration officers lied under oath about what had happened.
The city released the video after the New York Times, which obtained a copy earlier, reported that the footage raised questions about why it took weeks for the federal Government’s case against the two men to collapse.
The Times reported that federal investigators had access to the video within hours of the Jan 14 shooting, but did not watch it until nearly three weeks after they had charged the two men. “The video 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,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement. Federal authorities initially accused Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis of beating an ICE officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel during the incident.
The officer fired a single shot from his handgun, striking Sosa-Celis in his right thigh. Protesters quickly flocked to the scene and clashed with other officers, who were wearing gas masks and helmets.
The city provided no narrative on what the video depicts except to say that it was “related” to the shooting. A statement added, “The City has no additional information and will not be making further comments at this time.”
The video, shot from a distance in the dark, appears to show a person standing with a snow shovel outside the house, near the street, then retreating toward the house and tossing the shovel into the yard.
