{"slug":"border-patrol-shooting-marimar-martinez","title":"Border Patrol Agent Shoots US Citizen Marimar Martinez in Chicago; Prosecution Collapses as Evidence Contradicts DHS","date":"2025-10-04","lastUpdated":"2026-10-04","description":"On October 4, 2025, in Chicago, Border Patrol agent Charles Exum fired five rounds at US citizen Marimar Martinez, wounding her in the arm and legs; she survived. DHS said she 'rammed' agents who were 'boxed in by 10 cars' and called her a 'domestic terrorist,' and she was charged with federal assault offences. Surveillance video showed no vehicles in front of or to the left of the agent's car. Prosecutors dropped all charges on November 20, 2025. Evidence later released with a judge's permission included an agent-drawn diagram showing three vehicles her lawyer says did not exist, and texts in which Exum wrote: 'I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.'","summary":"A Border Patrol agent shot an American woman five times in Chicago. DHS called her a domestic terrorist and prosecutors charged her with assault, but video contradicted the government's account and the charges were dropped. The agent's texts boasted about the shooting and claimed support from senior officials.","category":"civil-rights","severity":"severe","ongoing":true,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-video-contradicts-border-patrol-account-of-chicago-shooting-lawyer-says-60-minutes/","title":"New video contradicts Border Patrol account of Chicago shooting, lawyer says","publisher":"CBS News / 60 Minutes"},{"url":"https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/02/11/evidence-shows-feds-lied-about-marimar-martinezs-shooting-in-chicago-attorney-says","title":"Evidence shows feds lied about Marimar Martinez's shooting in Chicago, attorney says","publisher":"Chicago Sun-Times"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Border Patrol","use of force","US citizen","Chicago","malicious prosecution","domestic terrorist label"],"relatedEntries":["ice-killing-silverio-villegas-gonzalez","ice-killing-renee-good","ice-officer-castro-indicted-sosa-celis-shooting","national-guard-illegal-deployments"],"timeline":[{"date":"2025-10-04","title":"Exum shoots Martinez","summary":"Border Patrol agent Charles Exum fires five rounds at Marimar Martinez in Chicago. DHS says she rammed agents and labels her a domestic terrorist; she is charged with assaulting federal officers (CBS News)."},{"date":"2025-11-20","title":"Charges dropped","summary":"The US Attorney's office in Chicago drops all charges against Martinez (Chicago Sun-Times; CBS News)."},{"date":"2026-01-19","title":"CBS News reports video contradicting the official account","summary":"CBS News reports surveillance video showing no vehicles boxing in the agent's car, and Exum's text: 'I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes.'"},{"date":"2026-02-10","title":"Evidence released: disputed diagram and trajectories","summary":"After Judge Georgia Alexakis permits Martinez to release it, the US Attorney's office releases texts and documents, including a diagram of vehicles her lawyer says did not exist and Exum's claim of support from 'Chief Bovino, Chief Banks, Sec Noem and El Jefe himself'; her lawyers present their analysis the next day (Chicago Sun-Times)."}],"location":{"name":"Chicago, Illinois"},"custom":{"era":"second-term","posture":"reported","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Articles 6, 9 and 14","provision":"Right to life and security of person; freedom from arbitrary arrest; fair-trial guarantees"},{"statute":"UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials","article":"Principle 9","provision":"Intentional lethal use of firearms only when strictly unavoidable to protect life (soft-law standard)"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Marimar Martinez, a US citizen and first-generation Mexican-American, shot five times and wounded, then charged with crimes the government later abandoned and publicly labelled a 'domestic terrorist.'","perpetrators":"Border Patrol agent Charles Exum (shooter); DHS (public statements and 'domestic terrorist' label); the US Attorney's office in Chicago (prosecution later dropped)","structuredVictims":[{"name":"Marimar Martinez","nationality":"American","status":"wounded; prosecuted, charges dropped","count":1}],"structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Charles Exum","role":"Border Patrol agent; fired five rounds","institution":"US Customs and Border Protection"}],"keyPoints":["Border Patrol agent Charles Exum fired five rounds at Marimar Martinez, a US citizen, on October 4, 2025; she was wounded in the thigh, arm and leg and survived (CBS News / 60 Minutes). (CBS gives the year as 2024; the Chicago Sun-Times's contemporaneous report and the November 2025 dismissal confirm 2025.)","DHS claimed she 'rammed' agents who were 'boxed in by 10 cars,' called her a 'domestic terrorist,' and later claimed she was 'armed with a semi-automatic weapon'; Martinez says her licensed firearm stayed holstered (CBS News). She was charged with federal assault offences.","Surveillance video obtained by her lawyer shows 'the agent's vehicle coming to a stop with no vehicles in front of it or on the left side'; body-camera audio records an agent saying 'Do something' seconds before Exum fired (CBS News).","Federal prosecutors dropped all charges on November 20, 2025. DHS has refused to withdraw the 'domestic terrorist' label (Chicago Sun-Times).","Released with Judge Georgia Alexakis's permission, an agents' diagram showed three vehicles ahead of Exum's Tahoe that her lawyer Christopher Parente says 'don't exist' on video; Parente also disputes Exum's claim to the FBI that all five shots went through the windshield (Chicago Sun-Times).","Exum texted: 'I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys' (CBS News), and wrote that support came from 'Chief Bovino, Chief Banks, Sec Noem and El Jefe himself … according to Bovino' (Chicago Sun-Times)."],"searchAliases":["Marimar Martinez","Charles Exum","Chicago Border Patrol shooting"],"legalBasis":"Fourth Amendment (excessive force; seizure); Fifth Amendment due process (prosecution resting on a disputed official account); ICCPR Articles 6, 9 and 14; UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms (soft law).","postureNote":"The criminal case against Martinez was dismissed when prosecutors dropped the charges; no court has ruled on whether Exum's use of force was lawful. The contradictions are documented in video and records released through the criminal case and described by her lawyer and by CBS News and the Chicago Sun-Times. CBP says Exum was placed on administrative leave but has not said when or whether the leave continues. DHS has not withdrawn the 'domestic terrorist' label.","relatedIncidents":["ice-killing-silverio-villegas-gonzalez","ice-killing-renee-good","ice-officer-castro-indicted-sosa-celis-shooting","national-guard-illegal-deployments"]}}