Back in October of last year, Marimar Martinez, a Chicago woman, was shot by federal agents, who claimed she rammed a vehicle driven by Border Patrol officers who were conducting routine patrol operations.
At the time, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the woman was armed with a semiautomatic weapon, prompting agents to “deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots.”
But a newly released batch of evidence made public Feb. 10 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including body-camera footage, text messages and Flock camera video, suggests the case could take a different turn.
According to court records cited by the Chicago Sun-Times, body-camera video appears to show the Border Patrol agent who shot Martinez turned his steering wheel toward her vehicle.
The outlet reported that the movement came after agents inside the SUV he was driving said, “it’s time to get aggressive,” followed by, “we’re going to make contact, we’re boxed in.” Moments after the vehicles collided, one agent is heard saying they had “been struck,” and Border Patrol agent Charles Exum is then seen exiting the vehicle before five gunshots ring out off-camera.
The evidence filed in court appears to contradict the initial DHS account that Martinez and another man had “rammed” the agents’ vehicle, and it aligns with Martinez’s claim that Exum swerved his SUV in her direction.
Additional evidence presented in court included text messages exchanged after the shooting that show Exum communicating with his supervisors. On the day Martinez was shot, former U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino told Exum he wanted to extend his retirement past age 57 “in light of your excellent service in Chicago,” adding that Exum had “much left to do.”
Prosecutors argued against releasing Exum’s text messages during a hearing last week, saying the messages would only “further sully” the agent and his family. Judge Georgia N. Alexakis, who ordered the release of the material, said her decision was based on the fact that the texts had been redacted to remove the names of third parties.
As reported by NBC Chicago, some of the messages were shown during the hearing, including one in which Exum appears to boast about the shooting.
“Five shots, seven holes. I fired five rounds and she had seven holes. Put that in your book boys,” Exum wrote in a text message.
As noted by the outlet, Martinez is expected to announce a new lawsuit stemming from the shooting this week. Her attorneys say the newly released evidence will show that Exum lied to the FBI about firing all five shots into Martinez’s front windshield, adding that at least one bullet was likely fired from behind.
During the shooting, Martinez, a teacher’s assistant at a school in Chicago, was shot five times and suffered seven wounds.
Originally published on Latin Times
