The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent who shot a Chicago woman five times last fall has been placed on administrative leave, as video footage and other evidence from the incident provide new insight on what happened the moments before and after Marimar Martinez was shot.
Newly released video evidence and text messages from the case revealed the agent who shot Martinez joked about it afterward, and was praised by both fellow agents and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino.
Lawyers for Martinez have accused the Trump administration of mishandling the investigation and spreading lies about the shooting. Martinez has been fighting for the release of key evidence in her case, saying, after the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, the public needs to see what happened to her.
A Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that Agent Charles Exum, who shot Martinez, has been placed on administrative leave. However, it was not immediately clear when Exum was placed on leave. In the past five months, federal officials have not said Exum was at any point placed on administrative leave.
“CBP is committed to the highest standards of conduct, transparency, and accountability. All significant use-of-force incidents are thoroughly investigated, reviewed, and presented to the National Use of Force Review Board (NUFRB), an independent body comprised of senior CBP officials and representatives from DHS and DOJ, including the DOJ Civil Rights Division,” a CBP spokesman said.
Martinez, 30, was shot on Oct. 4, 2025, as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security drastically increased aggressive immigration enforcement in the Chicago area under the leadership of former CBP Commander Gregory Bovino. At the time, DHS claimed Martinez chased federal agents and rammed her car into an agent’s car during an anti-ICE protest near Pershing Road and Kedzie Avenue. Martinez’s attorneys have said she was driving alongside the Border Patrol agents Nearly two months later, federal prosecutors dropped assault charges that had been filed against her. The government later admitted in court that Martinez wasn’t “ramming” their car at all.
Martinez’s attorneys are pursuing a complaint under a law that permits individuals to sue federal agencies. They outlined instances of DHS lying about Martinez after the shooting, including labeling her a “domestic terrorist” and accusing her of having a history of “doxxing federal agents.” The Montessori school assistant has no criminal record and prosecutors haven’t brought evidence in either claim.
On Tuesday evening, bodycam footage of the moments surrounding Martinez’s shooting, along with other evidence from the case, was released after a judge ruled they could be made public.
The three videos, each between 15 and 20 minutes long, show the scene before and after the Oct. 4 shooting, much of it lining up with what Martinez’s attorney has maintained all along.
In one of the videos, the agents inside their vehicle are heard saying “we are boxed in” before their vehicle collided with another vehicle.
“It’s time to get aggressive and get the f*** out,” Agent Charles Exum, who is driving the car, can be heard saying. “They’re trying to box us in. We’re boxed in.”
But surveillance video released shows the same moment where Agent Exum’s car is stopped, with no one in front of him, contradicting the claim of being boxed in.
One angle of one bodycam video shows Exum pulling his steering wheel to the left and into Martinez’s car. That shot contradicts statements the agent made to the FBI immediately after the shooting, claiming Martinez ran into them.
Martinez’s attorney said she began following the agents in her own car for about 15 minutes. She was honking her horn to alert the community of the presence of federal agents when her attorney said the agent deliberately swerved his SUV into her car.
In the bodycam video, Exum gets out of the car. He shoots five times as Martinez drives by. The actual shooting did not appear to be captured on video; it had been stated in court before that his camera was not turned on during the incident.
While the video does not show the shooting from the Exum’s vantage point, it does capture him recounting his experience.
“We did not get shot at. We did the shooting,” Exum said.
Exum had also accused Martinez of ramming his car, but later admitted that didn’t happen in an interview with Martinez’s attorney.
“I asked him, ‘Well, we both agree that there was no ramming here. Is that fair to say?’ And Agent Exum said, ‘By my definition, yes, sir,'” said attorney Chris Parente.
Also released were images of the agent’s vehicle and text messages by Exum. In the immediate aftermath, he texted fellow officers “s*** happens.” He also sent a text saying, “I have a MOF amendment to add to my story. I fired 5 round and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” The responding message read, “good shootin, lol.” He then replies, “gracias senor.”
In an email, Bovino tells Exum he has “much yet left to do” following his “excellent service.” That email is time-stamped a few hours after the shooting, while Martinez was still in the hospital recovering from multiple gunshot wounds, she later revealed on CBS’ 60 Minutes.
Parente said they hope the release of all this evidence, and eventually more, will spur elected officials to find a way to hold federal agents accountable for their actions and perhaps “shift behavior.”
The government unsuccessfully fought the release of the documents, including an email from Bovino, who led enforcement operations nationwide before he returned to his previous sector post in California last month.
Martinez and her attorneys also plan to file a new federal lawsuit asking for tens of millions of dollars in damages. Wednesday they filed a complaint to get that process started. The government will have six months to respond before an official lawsuit can be filed.
Parente said he’s hopeful that the release of evidence from Martinez’s case helps convince more lawmakers to support major reforms in federal immigration enforcement.
“Marimar was in D.C., I was fortunate to go with her last week, and Senator Duckworth and others asked very specific questions, and seemed to actually be interested in getting behind this and trying to shift behavior,” Parente said.
