Chicago Woman to File Suit After Border Patrol Shooting (1)

A Chicago woman who survived a shooting by a Border Patrol agent in October is preparing to sue over the shooting, her attorneys said at a press conference Wednesday.

The team plans to send a Federal Tort Claims Act claim to the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, the first step toward potentially filing a tort lawsuit.

They also are preparing for a civil-rights suit, , though such matters are notoriously difficult to pursue against federal officers.

“We can go forward, we can hold them accountable, we do have avenues,” said Michael Gallagher of Gallagher Law Offices.

Gallagher said they intend to ask for damages “in the tens of millions of dollars” and hope to proceed quickly.

The news conference came on the heels of Tuesday’s release of material related to the shooting of Marimar Martinez, including body camera footage in which an agent said they should “get aggressive” and texts from Agent Charles Exum bragging about the shooting and saying he has the support of top Trump administration officials.

“We’re going to make contact, and we’re boxed in,” said an agent in an SUV, according to the footage. Moments later, the driver—Agent Charles Exum—appears to jerk the steering wheel to the left. Exum got out of the SUV and fired multiple rounds at Marimar Martinez, who was seriously wounded but survived.

Trump administration officials characterized the October shooting as justified due to a deliberate, coordinated attack in which Martinez purposely sideswiped the driver’s side of the agents’ SUV.

Martinez, however, says it was actually Exum who sideswiped her.

Prosecutors in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois brought a criminal case against Martinez but dropped it less than two months after it was filed.

Violence by immigration agents is under heightened scrutiny after the January killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. Martinez herself spoke on Capitol Hill at a forum on agents’ use of force last week.

Footage Released

The body camera footage was among material released Tuesday after the judge overseeing the case partially granted a request from Martinez’s attorneys to modify a protective order.

“Do something, bitch,” an agent is heard muttering on the footage as drivers around the SUV honk their horns and at least one agent appears to point a firearm out the window.

Texts and emails released Tuesday show Exum bragging about the shooting—"I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys"—and saying he had the support of top Department of Homeland Security officials.

Border Patrol’s Gregory Bovino, the face of the Chicago deportation campaign, was supportive, Exum said, as were DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and “El Jefe himself...according to Bovino”—an apparent reference to the president.

And just hours after the shooting, Bovino emailed Exum offering to extend his time on the job.

“In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much yet left to do!!” Bovino wrote.

In a group text chain called “Posse Chat,” Exum said the damage to the agents’ SUV was minor: “Ding sheet. It’ll buff out. Lmao.”

Martinez’s attorneys successfully argued that the material should be released in light of the high-profile killings by immigration officials in Minnesota. They also cited repeated smears from federal officials who stood by their characterization of Martinez as a “domestic terrorist,” even after prosecutors moved to dismiss the criminal charges against her.

Attorneys representing the family of Renee Good, who was killed by immigration agents in Minnesota last month, also are preparing to initiate civil proceedings.

The case is United States v. Martinez, N.D. Ill., No. 1:25-cr-00636.