Body camera footage, text messages and other evidence released Tuesday shed new light on details around the case of Marimar Martinez, who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago last year. Martinez was accused of using her car to assault federal law enforcement before the case against her was dismissed in November.
The new evidence was part of a trove the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago made public after a judge last week ordered their release.
Border Patrol agent Charles Exum, who shot Martinez five times, was not wearing his body camera during the incident, according to Martinez’s attorney. Body camera footage from another agent who was at the scene shows the moments leading up to and after the shooting from inside Exum’s vehicle.
In one video, the agents inside the vehicle have their weapons drawn, and one is heard saying, “It’s time to get aggressive and get the f--- out, because they’re trying to box us in.”
“We’re going to make contact and we’re boxed in,” another says.
Exum is then seen quickly turning the steering wheel sharply to the left and an apparent jolt from the impact of a collision immediately follows.
Exum then exits the vehicle and shortly after five gunshots are heard off camera.
Texts to and from Exum show him describing the “big time” support he received after the shooting. Responding to a text asking if people have been supportive, he wrote back, “Everyone has been including Chief Bovino, Chief Banks, Sec Noem and El Jefe himself … according to Bovino,” referring to former Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “El Jefe” is Spanish for “the boss.”
In one email hours after the shooting of Martinez, Bovino, the former commander-at-large of Border Patrol who has since been removed from the post and returned to his station in El Centro, California, wrote to Exum, “I’d like to extend an offer for you to extend your retirement beyond age 57. … In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much yet left to do!!”
“This evidence conclusively rebuts the false narratives that Ms. Martinez was anything but a victim of a horrific violent crime,” said a statement from Martinez and her attorneys Tuesday afternoon, before the evidence was released to the public.
During a news conference on Wednesday, Martinez's attorney Chris Parente said the public release of materials associated with the case was critical because “people can actually see the real evidence, as opposed to the false claims by our government.”
“Most people, after their criminal indictment has been dismissed, would stop fighting, but to have your own government call you something as hurtful and as harmful as a domestic terrorist when you know you’re not is just unacceptable,” he said.
“Marimar was able to get discovery in this case that shows you exactly how this agency handles a shooting in the immediate aftermath, and it is scary,” he said.
He defended Martinez as a Montessori school teacher with no criminal record who was on her way to donate clothes to a local church when the encounter with immigration agents began.
After a federal judge on Friday ruled that the texts could be released publicly, Parente told reporters, “This man, after shooting a woman who did nothing, is going to text his friends and joke about it, brag about it, ‘put it in your book.’”
“That’s not what this country stands for,” he said.
Exum’s text messages were the topic of a previous court hearing on the case, where records show he wrote in group chat with other agents, “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” In a separate message, he shared a news article about the shooting and wrote, “Read it. 5 shots, 7 holes.”
Government attorneys have previously said in court that South Bend prosecutors are handling a probe into the shooting. Exum is on administrative leave, "consistent with policy," a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said.
