Topline
The Department of Homeland Security identified the man who was shot and injured during an arrest on Wednesday night as Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan migrant previously convicted of driving without a license and giving a false name to law enforcement, and also confirmed the two men who “ambushed and attacked” the officer making the arrest were also Venezuelan nationals.
Federal agents operate in Minneapolis after a Venezuelan migrant was shot and injured on Wednesday night.
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Key Facts
DHS described Sosa-Celis, the original target in what authorities called a “targeted traffic stop” as an “illegal alien” who had prior criminal convictions—one count for driving without a license and two counts of giving a false name to a peace officer.
Sosa-Celis fled from the traffic stop in his vehicle before crashing into a parked car, DHS said, and then fled on foot.
Two other Venezuelan migrants “ambushed and attacked” the officer trying to arrest Sosa-Celis with “a snow shovel and broom handle.”
The two other men were identified as Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna and Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma, both Venezuelan migrants who entered the U.S. in 2023, according to DHS.
All three men have since been arrested and placed in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Sosa-Celis was hospitalized after the incident, along with the officer who was trying to make the arrest.
In a statement on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the incident “attempted murder of federal law enforcement,” but it is unclear if any charges have been filed against the men.
Key Background
Wednesday’s arrest was met with more protests and demonstrations overnight in the Twin Cities, the target of a massive surge of federal agents in what ICE previously called its “largest immigration operation ever.” Outrage grew last week after the deadly shooting of 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in a residential neighborhood. The Trump administration has not backed down in the face of the protests—earlier on Thursday, President Donald Trump threatened to use the Insurrection Act in response, which would allow him to deploy the U.S. military to the city.
Crucial Quote
“Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in an appeal directly to Trump on Thursday. The governor also urged Minnesotans to continue protesting peacefully. “We cannot fan the flames of chaos. That’s what he wants.” Republicans have placed blame on the protests squarely on the Democratic leadership of the state, with Noem insisting on Thursday morning, “if anything doesn’t change with Gov. Walz, I don’t anticipate that the streets will get any safer or more peaceful. Gov. Walz and his leadership team need to come to us and find out how we can work together, like we have in many other states.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2026/01/15/authorities-identify-venezuelan-migrant-shot-in-minneapolis-by-federal-law-enforcement/
