ICE Agent Charged in Shooting of a Venezuelan Immigrant in Minnesota

State prosecutors on Monday charged a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent with assault in the January shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis, an incident that sparked violent protests at the height of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The identity of the agent accused of firing the shot, Christian J. Castro, 52, had not been disclosed until Monday. Mr. Castro was charged with four counts of second-degree assault, a felony, and one count of falsely reporting a crime, a misdemeanor.

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A state investigation into the Jan. 14 shooting of the immigrant, Julio C. Sosa-Celis, had been stymied by the refusal of federal agencies to share information, including the names of the two agents involved in a chase that preceded the shooting.

Mr. Sosa-Celis, who was shot in the leg, was one of three people shot by federal agents during the immigration crackdown in Minnesota over the winter. Agents also shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

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Minnesota prosecutors have acknowledged that they face formidable practical and legal challenges in prosecuting federal agents for on-duty conduct. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution gives federal officials broad immunity from state prosecution, but Minnesota officials say those protections are not absolute. If Mr. Castro seeks to have the case moved to federal court and a judge agrees, Ms. Moriarty said her office would continue to pursue the prosecution there.

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According to the criminal complaint, on the night of the shooting, the F.B.I. and state law enforcement agents jointly interviewed an ICE agent who said he was the partner of the agent who fired his gun. The agent who was interviewed, who was involved in the chase but did not shoot his weapon, identified Mr. Castro, according to the complaint. State officials later subpoenaed Mr. Castro’s medical records from a hospital where he sought treatment, Ms. Moriarty said. She said those records corroborated that Mr. Castro was at the scene of the shooting that night.

Federal officials have not confirmed that it was Mr. Castro who fired the shot. The F.B.I. excluded state agents from the investigation after that first joint interview, prosecutors said.

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Both Mr. Sosa-Celis and the housemate, Alfredo A. Aljorna, who was also from Venezuela and in the country illegally, were charged with federal felonies.

Within weeks, the federal government’s account began to unravel. The charges against both men were dropped, and federal officials said they were instead investigating the agents. Video footage of the incident obtained by The New York Times showed no sustained attack with a shovel and contradicted the agent’s claim of a roughly three-minute beating. The encounter lasted about 12 seconds, the video showed.

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