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Nearly a year after a Customs and Border Protection agent shot Marimar Martinez during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, the U.S. citizen is suing the federal government — alleging the agent’s account of the shooting was false and that he fired at her vehicle even after moving behind it.
Martinez was initially portrayed by federal authorities as the aggressor. Prosecutors accused her of using her vehicle to strike and box in Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum during a confrontation in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood on Oct. 4, 2025, as federal agents carried out Operation Midway Blitz.
Exum fired five times, striking Martinez and leaving her with seven gunshot wounds.
Federal prosecutors later abandoned the case against Martinez, and a federal judge dismissed the charges with prejudice in November 2025, meaning they cannot be brought again.
Now Martinez’s attorneys are using a forensic reconstruction of the shooting to challenge the original federal account and seek damages from the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
New reconstruction challenges agent’s account
Martinez’s lawyers said they hired a shooting-reconstruction expert to examine the bullet holes in her vehicle, her injuries and photographs and video from the scene.
Their conclusion: Exum was not in the path of Martinez’s vehicle when he began firing, and the trajectory of the shots contradicts his account to the FBI that Martinez was driving directly toward him.
Attorney Chris Parente said Exum told investigators shortly after the shooting that he fired through Martinez’s windshield while she was driving toward him and stopped once he was no longer in the vehicle’s path.
Martinez’s lawyers dispute all three elements of that account.
They say three bullets went through the passenger side of the windshield, another entered through the front passenger window and a fifth went through the rear passenger window.
That final shot, they argue, indicates Exum had moved behind Martinez’s vehicle while continuing to fire.
The allegations have not been tested at trial. Exum is not a defendant in the lawsuit because the Federal Tort Claims Act does not permit Martinez to sue him individually in this action.
CBP said Exum has been placed on administrative leave and that use-of-force incidents are investigated and reviewed by an independent board.
Federal case against Martinez collapsed
The lawsuit comes after the government’s own criminal case against Martinez fell apart.
Federal prosecutors initially accused Martinez of assaulting a federal officer with her vehicle. The Justice Department later asked a judge to dismiss the indictment after citing “new facts and information.”
The judge dismissed the case with prejudice on Nov. 20, 2025.
The decision was a dramatic reversal after federal authorities had publicly described Martinez and another motorist as having “ambushed” agents.
An Illinois Accountability Commission later reviewed the shooting and reached findings that further challenged the government’s initial account.
The commission’s April 2026 final report said evidence indicated Exum may have rammed his vehicle into Martinez’s car, contrary to the claim that Martinez had rammed him. It also said body-camera footage and witness statements contradicted Exum’s account.
The commission concluded that Exum fired five shots, striking Martinez seven times, and said federal officials immediately defended him while publicly portraying Martinez as a threat.
The commission also referred its findings to law enforcement agencies, including the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and Chicago Police Department.
Martinez was arrested while recovering from gunshot wounds
According to the lawsuit, Martinez was arrested by the FBI only hours after the shooting while she remained hospitalized.
Her attorneys say she was still wheelchair-bound and bleeding through her bandages when federal authorities took her into custody.
She was released two days later after a judge ordered her freed.
The episode became one of the most closely watched incidents of Operation Midway Blitz, a sweeping federal immigration enforcement campaign that brought thousands of agents into Chicago and generated repeated clashes with residents, protesters and local officials.
Agents discussed getting “aggressive”
The lawsuit also points to body-camera footage recorded before the shooting.
According to Martinez’s attorneys, agents inside Exum’s vehicle discussed becoming “aggressive” shortly before the confrontation.
The Illinois Accountability Commission separately reviewed footage and testimony involving the incident. Its investigators said federal agents engaged in dangerous vehicle tactics and other uses of force during the broader operation.
The commission’s investigation went beyond Martinez’s shooting, examining 16 incidents and reviewing hundreds of hours of footage, according to the commission.
Federal officials have disputed the broader characterization of Operation Midway Blitz and have defended agents’ use of force in individual encounters as necessary to protect officers and the public.
Exum was praised after the shooting
Records released during the earlier criminal case also raised questions about how federal officials responded to the shooting.
Former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino praised Exum’s service after the incident and offered to extend his retirement age, according to records cited by the Illinois Accountability Commission. Messages also showed other agents congratulating Exum and calling him a “legend.”
Meanwhile, Martinez remained hospitalized before being taken into federal custody.
The commission said DHS officials publicly described Martinez as a “domestic terrorist” after the shooting, even though the criminal case against her was later dismissed with prejudice.
Martinez says the shooting should not be normalized
Martinez said Monday that the shooting and subsequent treatment of her case pushed her to pursue the lawsuit, particularly after other people were shot by federal immigration agents during the administration’s enforcement campaign.
“If I don’t, then who else?” Martinez said at a news conference, referring to other people killed or wounded during immigration operations.
She specifically invoked Renee Good, a woman fatally shot by a federal agent in Minneapolis in January.
“What’s happening is not normal,” Martinez said. “We shouldn’t stay here and normalize what’s happening.”
The lawsuit accuses the federal government of negligence, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.
Martinez’s attorneys also say they hope the evidence will prompt criminal investigators to examine Exum’s conduct.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the lawsuit. CBP referred to Exum’s administrative leave and its existing process for investigating use-of-force incidents.
The civil case now places the government’s original account of the shooting under renewed scrutiny — nearly a year after Martinez was shot and after the criminal prosecution against her was permanently dismissed.
