DOWNTOWN — A Chicago woman who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent during last year’s Operation Midway Blitz has filed a lawsuit against the federal government.
Marimar Martinez filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, almost exactly a year after agent Charles Exum fired five shots directly into Martinez’s car, leaving her with seven wounds. Agents alleged that she rammed into their vehicle after tailing them before the shooting.
Martinez was charged with assaulting, impeding and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer. The U.S. Attorney’s Office dropped the charges after Martinez’s lawyer argued that body camera footage contradicted Border Patrol’s version of events.
The lawsuit follows a federal civil claim Martinez made earlier this year against the government and Exum, seeking monetary damages in the “tens of millions of dollars,” citing her physical injuries, emotional trauma and reputational harm. The tort claim is the first step toward suing the federal government.
Michael Gallagher (left) speaks at a press conference discussing Marimar Martinez’s shooting by a border patrol agent at 161 N Clark St in the Loop on Oct. 5, 2026. Credit: Giacomo Cain/Block Club Chicago
The government had six months to review the claim before a lawsuit could be filed in federal court. The government did not respond to the claim, Martinez’s lawyers said Monday.
The lawsuit itself accuses the federal government of negligence, battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, false arrest and malicious prosecution.
“If I don’t, then who else?” Martinez said when asked what keeps her going. “Look at what happened to Renee [Good] and all these victims. … I have a voice, and I do matter, and I don’t want it to keep happening.”
On Monday, Martinez’s lawyers presented an animated reconstruction of the shooting based on evidence from the case that they say shows Exum was not in danger when he shot Martinez.
Martinez’s attorneys, from Cheronis & Parente LLC and Gallagher & Kosner Law, hired Jeremy Bauer, a forensic biomechanist and shooting reconstruction expert, to review the evidence, in addition to Martinez’s vehicle.
A reconstruction of the shooting was created based on Bauer’s analysis of Martinez’s car, bullet trajectories, surveillance video, body-camera footage, audio and Martinez’s injuries. Actual footage of the shooting does not exist because Exum failed to activate his body camera, as is required of all agents.
Marimar Martinez speaks at a press conference discussing her shooting by a border patrol agent at 161 N Clark St in the Loop on Oct. 5, 2026. Credit: Giacomo Cain/Block Club Chicago
The reconstruction shows Exum standing to the side of Martinez’s car and the car passing Exum as opposed to head-on, as Exum claimed. The reconstruction shows three shots entering the front of Martinez’s car and then two through the side.
Martinez’s legal team plans to turn over the analysis to the federal investigators and the Chicago police as they continue to pursue criminal charges in addition to the civil suit filed Monday.
“Now they can see what happened not through our word but through science,” said attorney Chris Parente during a Monday press conference.
Martinez’s lawyers also said that Chicago police have been actively investigating the shooting for the last six weeks and have turned over all of their evidence to the Chicago Police Department to aid the “experienced investigator” in charge of the case.
After a court order, prosecutors on Feb. 11 released this and other images taken during the investigation that followed Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shooting Marimar Martinez on Oct. 4. Credit: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois
Martinez and her lawyers hope that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office will take the findings and pursue criminal charges against Exum.
“I think [Eileen O’Neill Burke] will pursue this when the facts are provided, but they seem to be waiting for that investigation [to be] completed,” said attorney Michael Gallagher.
In a statement Monday, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office that it would make any charging decisions “in accordance with the protocol we developed to respond to use of force incidents by federal immigration enforcement officers.”
“We recognize that many communities are seeking accountability and justice following the trauma inflicted upon them during Operation Midway Blitz,” the office said. “The CCSAO will not hesitate to file charges when the law and the evidence allow us to prosecute. No one is above the law – and that includes federal agents.”
The FBI opened an investigation last year into the shooting, but Martinez’s attorneys said Monday they have seen little progress since. Parente said the case had been assigned but the department has received few “substantial updates.” The FBI was also invited to review the reconstruction findings, but the agency declined, Parente said.
In February, a judge ordered previously sealed records in the dropped case to be released after Martinez’s attorney, Chris Parente, argued that the public should be able to review the facts because top federal officials continued to label Martinez a “domestic terrorist.”
After a court order, prosecutors on Feb. 11 released this and other images taken during the investigation that followed the Oct. 4 shooting of Marimar Martinez by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum. Credit: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois
Body camera footage and the incident report from the shooting, which were reviewed by Block Club Chicago, contradicted Exum’s account that Martinez tried to run him over. Instead, they indicate she was attempting to drive away, and that his actions conflict with use-of-force training provided to agents.
The footage also shows two other officers in the car drawing their weapons while inside the moving vehicle and pointing them toward a nearby vehicle before crashing into Martinez’s car less than one minute later.
With their weapons drawn, one of the agents shouts, “Do something, b—.”
The phrase “it’s time to get aggressive” and “we’re going to make contact, we’re boxed in,” can be heard by one of the three agents before Exum is seen yanking his steering wheel to the left and hitting Martinez’s car.
After the collision, Exum is seen getting out of the car and firing five shots within two seconds. Exum claimed in text messages that he shot through the front windshield of Martinez’s car. Photos of bullet holes in Martinez’s car contradict Exum’s claim that he fired five shots through the windshield as she drove toward him, her attorneys said.
The images, released to the public, show three bullets struck the passenger side of the windshield, one shattered the rear passenger window and another traveled from the back of the vehicle toward the front, a trajectory Parente said suggests Martinez was moving away when she was shot.
Text messages from Exum’s phone and internal emails show he received praise from fellow agents and senior leadership. Exum also bragged about the incident, according to materials released in the case.
In text messages, agents wrote, “You are a legend among agents,” “Good job, brother, glad you’re unharmed,” and “beers on me,” according to photos of the messages. One message also used “FAFO” — shorthand for “f— around and find out.”
In another text message, Exum wrote that agency leadership had been supportive “big time,” including Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and “el jefe,” which appears to be a reference to President Donald Trump, Parente said.
“We shouldn’t sit here and normalize what’s happening,” Martinez told reporters Monday.
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