Chicago Shooting Lawsuit Challenges Border Patrol Account
Marimar Martinez, a U.S. citizen wounded by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago last year, has sued the federal government, alleging the agent gave a false account of the shooting and fired into her car from behind.
The suit was announced on Oct. 5, 2026, almost exactly a year after Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum opened fire on Oct. 4, 2025, on Chicago's south-west side. Martinez attended a press conference in Chicago that day with attorney Michael Gallagher regarding the lawsuit, according to AP. Exum is not named as a defendant. The case was brought against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the statute that permits civil claims against the federal government for alleged wrongdoing by its employees. Think of it as suing the employer, not the individual worker, for what happened on the job.
The shooting occurred during what the Trump administration named Operation Midway Blitz. Federal prosecutors initially accused Martinez, then age 30, of using her vehicle to strike and box in Exum's SUV. Exum exited his car and opened fire, leaving Martinez with seven gunshot wounds, according to The Guardian. Martinez was a 30-year-old teacher's aide at the time.
The central dispute is whether Exum fired in self-defense. Attorney Chris Parente said Exum told the FBI within hours of the shooting that Martinez drove directly at him, that he shot five times through the windshield, and that he ceased firing once no longer in the vehicle's path. Martinez's lawyers commissioned an expert analysis of bullet trajectories and injuries, like piecing together angles to see where the shooter stood, which determined Exum was not in the path of her car when he opened fire.
Parente disputed that FBI account on the physical evidence. He said there were only three bullet holes in Martinez's windshield on the right passenger side. He said the fourth shot was fired through the front passenger side window and a bullet hole in the back of Martinez's car seat showed the fifth shot was fired from behind her. The lawsuit alleges Exum walked several feet toward her car and fired five shots in less than a second, the last from the rear side of her vehicle.
The complaint also alleges body-worn camera footage from another agent in Exum's vehicle captured agents saying it was "time to get aggressive" before the shooting. The lawsuit alleges the FBI arrested Martinez hours after the shooting, taking her out of the hospital, and a judge ordered her release two days after her arrest. Prosecutors filed to dismiss the charges against Martinez in the month after the shooting.
After the shooting, messages released by Martinez's attorneys in February showed former Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino praised Exum for his "excellent service in Chicago." Messages showed agents in a group chat congratulating Exum and calling him a "legend." Customs and Border Protection said in a statement responding to the suit that Exum had been placed on administrative leave.
The federal lawsuit alleges negligence, battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false arrest, and false imprisonment, according to NBC News.
The broader context here is the legal path such cases must take. A Federal Tort Claims Act suit shifts liability from the individual agent to the government and requires the plaintiff to establish that federal employees acted negligently or wrongfully within the scope of employment. Dismissal of the initial criminal case against Martinez does not decide civil liability, but it removes the government's contemporaneous allegation that she used her car as a weapon. For officials overseeing large-scale enforcement operations, the combination of trajectory evidence, contemporaneous body-camera audio and post-incident messages will likely receive close attention as discovery proceeds.
