Newly obtained movies of the moments proper after the Wednesday incident in which an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot a Venezuelan man in the leg in Minneapolis seem to contradict not less than some of ICE’s claims about occasions main as much as the shooting.
In an announcement Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said the agent focused, chased after which shot the person in self-defense because the agent was being “ambushed” by three folks. But accounts in the movies contradict the id of the individual DHS says federal brokers chased, and the small print of the shooting itself.
According to DHS, federal brokers have been conducting a “targeted traffic stop” when, they are saying, Julio Sosa-Celis, an undocumented Venezuelan national, resisted arrest and began to “violently assault” one of its officers. During the battle, DHS mentioned in the assertion, two further folks got here out of a close-by condominium and attacked the officer utilizing a snow shovel and a brush deal with.
According to DHS, Sosa-Celis “got loose” and started hanging an agent “with a shovel or broom stick.” DHS says the agent then “fired a defensive shot,” which hit Sosa-Celis in the leg.
The three individuals who allegedly assaulted the officer bumped into the condominium constructing and barricaded themselves earlier than brokers arrested all three, DHS mentioned.
But movies from Sosa-Celis’ household seem to inform a special story. One of them exhibits a video name made by Sosa-Celis’ accomplice and reviewed by NCS, frantically describing to members of the family what she says occurred, based on Alicia Celis, the mom of Sosa-Celis, who spoke to NCS.
The name seems to contradict ICE’s claims in DHS’ Thursday statement. There, ICE mentioned it was Sosa-Celis who was driving a automobile that crashed, and Sosa-Celis who fled on foot earlier than brokers struggled with him on the bottom.
In the decision, Sosa-Celis’ accomplice appears to say the driving force of the automotive was not Sosa-Celis, however Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna — one other man ICE detained throughout the identical raid.
“Julio arrived first. They were chasing Alfredo — he had to jump from his car,” Sosa-Celis’ accomplice says through the name. “He ran and they threw themselves on top of him. After, Julio threw open the door, and they shot.”
The incident marks the second time in every week an immigration agent shot somebody whereas on the job, sparking heated clashes in Minnesota and prompting President Donald Trump to threaten to use the Insurrection Act. Exactly one week earlier, an ICE agent in Minneapolis shot and killed Renee Good, a mom of three, in her automobile.
Sosa-Celis was taken to an ambulance and hospitalized; the town of Minneapolis confirmed he had non-life-threatening accidents. NCS has contacted metropolis officers to find out whether or not he’s nonetheless hospitalized.
In an announcement to NCS on Saturday, DHS stood by its preliminary assertion that the topic of the raid on Wednesday was Sosa-Celis and that he was driving the automobile.
The household’s model of occasions, heard in a livestreamed Facebook video when members of the family frantically known as 911 to ask for assist, additionally differs from DHS’ assertion.
In the video, the household tells a 911 dispatcher that brokers shot Sosa-Celis as he tried to enter his house.
“They were following my husband for about 30 minutes. They were trying to crash into him. He arrived at home and because we closed the door on them, they shot him!” a lady could be heard telling the dispatcher. It’s not clear who’s talking or whether or not Sosa-Celis is the individual known as being adopted.
Throughout the preliminary video, a number of members of the family could be heard pleading with the dispatcher for assist.
“Where did they shoot your cousin?” a 911 dispatcher asks the household over the telephone. “In the leg! The leg! Please help us! We have kids!” a person responds.
“We have a small child in the house!” one girl says in the background. “And if they shoot?” one other girl asks.
“Do you know who shot them?” the dispatcher asks the group. “The ones from ICE! The ones from ICE!” a person replies.
The stream ends with the household persevering with to talk with the dispatcher on the telephone.
A special video obtained by NCS exhibits what was occurring outdoors the house whereas the household waited inside.
In the video, brokers are seen approaching the house and setting off a flash-bang. Smoke could be seen, and ramming sounds are heard as somebody says, “They’re in! There’s more than a dozen of them.”
Alicia Celis additionally advised NCS she has spoken to her son solely as soon as, briefly, from the hospital after the shooting. Celis mentioned she had not requested her son about ICE’s declare he attacked brokers with a brush or shovel.
“(Julio) only called me to tell me that he is fine, for me not to worry, and for me to stay calm and not cry,” Celis mentioned.
In the Thursday assertion from DHS, ICE mentioned the agent who shot Sosa-Celis did so after chasing him on foot after Sosa-Celis crashed right into a parked automotive. DHS additionally described the agent as “fearing for his life” when he fired the shot. But in an interview with NCS, Mabel Aljorna, the mom of Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, disputed each of these claims on the idea of her dialog along with her son instantly after the shooting.
Aljorna mentioned her son advised her he was the one being pursued on foot by ICE, and that Sosa-Celis was already inside the house when the agent shot him — not outdoors, the place ICE says the agent fired the shot.
“He told me, ‘Mom, ICE was chasing me. Once we were inside, they shot at Julio.’”
After ICE shot after which detained Sosa-Celis, Sosa-Celis joined a Facebook livestream whereas in the hospital. In that video, he says there was a bodily confrontation between him and brokers earlier than the shooting as he tried to assist Aljorna get inside the house.
However, he additionally claims he was inside the home and the ICE agent was outdoors — and the 2 have been separated by a closed door — when the agent shot him, whereas Sosa-Celis was locking the door and Aljorna was already inside.
“What happened was that ICE had been chasing my cousin from far way. He came over here, and he tried coming to the house,” Sosa-Celis mentioned. “He got there and he was able to escape. We struggled with them. We were successful in helping my cousin get inside. And as I tried shutting the door, ICE shot me in the leg.”
“The shot that was fired happened when my cousin managed to escape, and he entered inside,” Sosa-Celis mentioned on the livestream. “I closed the door. And as I was locking it, I heard the shot, and that’s when I realized I had been shot in the leg.”
NCS visited the house Friday. The entrance doorway was boarded up and there was no proof to be discovered concerning the situation of the entrance door on the time of the shooting.
NCS has been unable to instantly attain Sosa-Celis and Aljorna for remark.