Bodycam Footage and Text Messages Shed Light on Border Patrol Shooting of Chicago Woman

The body camera footage, text messages and other evidence that have been released to the public in the Marimar Martinez case has shed light to several key details. The development comes after the U.S attorney's office in Chicago made public the evidence based on District Judge Georgia Alexakis's order on February 7.

Marimar Martinez, a teaching assistant and U.S. citizen, was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in October 2025 while in her vehicle.

Martinez was charged with a felony after Homeland Security officials accused her of trying to ram agents with her vehicle. But, the case was dismissed after videos emerged showing an agent steering his vehicle into Martinez’s vehicle.

The body camera footage, that has been recovered, was not that of Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum who allegedly shot Martinez as he was not wearing his body camera during the incident.

The footage released to the public is of another agent who was at the scene. In one of the videos, the agents inside the vehicle have their weapons drawn, and one is heard saying, “It's time to get aggressive....because they're trying to box us in."

In the footage, Exum is 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 immediately five gunshots are heard off camera.

Charles Exum, in his text messages described the “big time” support he was receiving after the shooting incident. In one email hours after the shooting incident, former Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino had written to Exum that he would want to extend his retirement beyond age 57 as there was much left for him to do .

In another group chat, agents congratulated Exum, calling him a legend and offering to buy him beer.

In other previously released documents, Exum's text messages appeared to show him bragging to colleagues about his shooting skills. “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys," the text read.

Martinez’s lawyer Chris Parente said, “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.”

“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.

Marimar Martinez testified before congressional Democrats to highlight use-of-force incidents by DHS officers. “They are not targeting the worst of the worst, they are targeting individuals who fit a certain profile, who simply have a certain accent, or a non-white skin color just like mine. This raises serious concerns about fairness, discrimination, and abuse of authority,” she said during her congressional testimony. “The lack of accountability for these actions is deeply troubling, “ she said.