CHICAGO — Attorneys for Marimar Martinez, shot by a Border Patrol agent during Operation Midway Blitz last October, called on authorities Monday to file criminal charges against the agent involved, alleging a new bullet trajectory analysis showed her car was moving away from the agent when he opened fire and disproves his claim he feared for his life.

“This in our opinion is not a political issue,” attorney Christopher Parente said a news conference to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit. “We are asking the Department of Justice to do something. It’s the Department of Justice. It’s not the Department of Republicans. It’s not the Department of Democrats. They have a civil rights division specifically there to investigate things like this.”

A reconstruction of the shooting done by a nationally renowned expert showed Exum was standing beside Martinez’s vehicle when he fired the first three shots through the passenger side of the windshield, according to her lawyers. As Martinez drove away from Exum, the fourth shot was fired through the front passenger side window. The final two shots broke out her rear passenger window when she was past him, her lawyers alleged.

Attorney Michael Gallagher said that their expert, Jeremy Bauer, cross-referenced police body camera and surveillance footage and analyzed the bullet holes in Martinez’s vehicle and the wounds in her body to trace Exum’s position when the shots were fired. None of it matched Exum’s statements to the FBI that he was standing in front of her car when the shots were fired, he said.

“We did the analysis so we had objective proof that this was a bad shoot, that everything Exum said was a lie, and most importantly Marimar is telling the truth,” Gallagher said.

The 33-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Monday afternoon alleged for the first time that Exum yelled “all right, it’s on now f—ers!” before jumping out of his SUV and firing five shots at Marimar Martinez, striking her in the legs, forearm and chest.

“The entry points and trajectory of these bullets confirm that Marimar’s vehicle had already passed Agent Exum and was moving away from him when he fired these shots,” the suit alleged. “In fact, the objective evidence shows Agent Exum was walking towards Marimar’s vehicle as he continued firing his gun.”

Martinez’s attorneys alleged the shooting was part of a broader push by the administration of President Donald Trump to use the guise of public safety to conceal a broader, racially discriminatory agenda that targeted people of Hispanic descent with arrest, detention, and attempted deportation with little regard to their immigration status or criminal history.

“The promise to target dangerous undocumented criminals supplied a pretext for treating skin color and perceived foreignness as grounds for suspicion and coercion,” the lawsuit stated.

The complaint named only the United States as a defendant, since federal agents are generally barred from being sued for on-duty actions. It included seven total counts of negligence, battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, malicious prosecution, and false arrest and imprisonment. It asks for an unspecified amount in damages.

The complaint landed a year and a day after Martinez, a Montessori school teacher’s aide, was seriously wounded in the Oct. 4, 2025, shooting in Brighton Park as she was heading to a local church to donate clothes.

Though she survived the shooting, Martinez was hit with federal assault charges while still in the hospital, a case that drew national scrutiny and became a defining moment of Operation Midway Blitz, the Trump administration’s controversial immigration enforcement campaign last fall.

Prosecutors later dropped all charges after it was revealed the agent Exum had bragged about his marksmanship to fellow agents and was allowed to drive his vehicle back to his home district in Maine before Martinez’s lawyers could have it inspected.

The Department of Homeland security referred questions to the Department of Justice. A DOJ spokesperson was not immediately available for comment Monday.

A federal tort claim filed against the Department of Justice in February alleged excessive force by Exum as well as a pattern of misstatements by his superiors intended to smear Martínez’s character and cover up the truth.

As part of that effort, Martínez’s attorneys released evidence in the case that they said demonstrated how Trump administration officials “have created a culture of violence among their agents” where the shootings of U.S. citizens are “embraced, celebrated and promoted.”

Among the investigatory materials were text messages showing Exum joked about the shooting with colleagues, was called a “legend” by one of his fellow agents, and even received praise directly from his boss, then-Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, as Martínez lay badly wounded in a hospital.

DHS confirmed earlier this year that Exum had been placed on administrative leave while an internal investigation was conducted. His current status was not immediately known.

“CBP is committed to the highest standards of conduct, transparency, and accountability,” DHS said in a statement in February. “All significant use-of-force incidents are thoroughly investigated, reviewed, and presented to the National Use of Force Review Board, an independent body comprised of senior CBP officials and representatives from DHS and DOJ, including the DOJ Civil Rights Division.”

Among the most crucial evidence in Martínez’s case was body-camera footage from one of the agents in the car with Exum that day showing the tense moments just before their unmarked Chevrolet Tahoe, which was outfitted with an Uber sign, collided with her SUV.

“It’s time to get aggressive and get the (expletive) out,” one agent said as horns blared. Seconds later, Exum, who was driving with his Glock pistol in his right hand, appeared to jerk the steering wheel to the left, in the direction of Martínez’s vehicle alongside them.

“Be advised we have been struck!” one of the agents in the vehicle yells to a dispatcher. Exum then gets out of the vehicle and moves off-camera and five rapid-succession gunshots are heard. Martínez was struck by gunfire in the legs, arm and chest, but managed to drive off before calling 911.

A few hours after the shooting, Bovino sent an email directly to Exum and others in Border Patrol commending him for his work, the evidence released earlier this year showed. “I would like to extend an offer to you to extend your retirement beyond age 57…. In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much left to do!!” it read.

Homeland Security officials released statements branding Martínez, a U.S. citizen with no criminal record, as an armed “domestic terrorist” who was part of a convoy attempting to box in agents that day. Exum and the two other agents with him that day later told the FBI that Martinez had rammed their vehicle and was driving toward Exum when he fired through her front windshield.

Exum, meanwhile, exchanged a series of texts with his wife as well as a group of fellow agents under the name “Posse Chat.” In one of them, someone Exum identified as “the guy from Vermont” wrote, “Good job brother, glad you are unharmed and get to live to tell the story.”

“You are a legend among agents you better (expletive) know that. Beers on me when I see you at training,” the agent texted Exum, the records show.

After surviving the ordeal, Martínez attended Trump’s State of the Union address in January as a guest of U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, a Chicago Democrat. She also testified before Congressional committees and in other forums in Washington, calling herself the surviving “voice” for other victims of violence like Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens who were fatally shot by immigration agents in Minnesota earlier this year.

Good’s family sued the U.S. government and several immigration officials on Thursday, alleging wrongful death, conspiracy and other violations in the 37-year-old woman’s killing.

In August, Martínez was among a handful of people who filed criminal complaints with the Chicago Police Department against federal agents over the tactics used during Midway Blitz.

“If the federal government refuses to act, state and local authorities must do so,” Martínez said outside CPD’s Area 3 station on the Northwest Side. “Today I am imploring our local and state officials to do their job and protect their citizens from the criminal conduct that ICE and Border Patrol have inflicted upon their victims, our brothers and sisters.”

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