{"id":565089,"date":"2026-02-04T06:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T06:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/565089\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T06:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T06:49:13","slug":"marimar-martinez-shooting-chicago-woman-testifies-about-border-patrol-shooting-in-brighton-park-on-capitol-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/565089\/","title":{"rendered":"Marimar Martinez shooting: Chicago woman testifies about Border Patrol shooting in Brighton Park on Capitol Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO (WLS) — Marimar Martinez<\/a> detailed her encounter with Border Patrol agents on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, saying her living testimony is evidence of a pattern of lies told by the federal government.<\/p>\n

“Evidence from these operations, including statements made under oath, reveals a pattern of misleading the public,” Martinez said.<\/p>\n

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n

Martinez said she believes that she survived her encounter with Border Patrol agents so she could share her story.<\/p>\n

“I struggle with the memories of the day, the initial swerving into me by Agent Exum, the shots ringing out and the burning sensation as the bullets ripped through my skin and body,” Martinez said.<\/p>\n

CBP agents shot the Chicago woman and U.S. citizen five times last October after her vehicle was involved in a collision with an SUV with Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum.<\/p>\n

The federal government charged Marimar with ramming border patrol agents.<\/p>\n

Those charges were later dropped. Marimar was one of many, calling the administration’s narratives into question on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“I know that being a survivor, it’s my duty to be here today to let you elected officials know what is happening on the streets of our country because silence is no longer an option,” Martinez said.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO |<\/strong>Mayor Johnson defends executive order for CPD to investigate federal agents’ alleged misconduct<\/a><\/p>\n

Martinez is asking a federal judge to allow the release of evidence in her case in light of the federal government continuing to label her as a “domestic terrorist.”<\/p>\n

“As a 30-year-old USA citizen with no criminal history, I believed that I had nothing to worry about, but I was concerned for my friends and neighbors,” Martinez testified, recalling the Saturday that she saw CBP agents in downtown Chicago. “For the next 15 to 20 minutes, I followed these Border Patrol agents through my neighborhood, honking my horn, shouting out, ‘La Migra,'” which in Spanish means immigration officers.<\/p>\n

Martinez followed the agents for several blocks before the vehicles collided, resulting in minor dents and scrapes on both vehicles.<\/p>\n

According to testimony and documents from Martinez’s now-dropped assault case, she stopped her vehicle directly after the collision and the agents’ SUV came to a halt just ahead of Martinez. She then accelerated away, testifying in court that she swerved left to avoid hitting the agents, who were exiting their vehicle.<\/p>\n

That’s when the agents opened fire, ultimately striking Martinez five times in the arm, chest and both legs. Only one of the three agents had a body camera activated at the time.<\/p>\n

While the body camera footage hasn’t been released publicly, lawyers for Martinez have said in court that it shows an officer shouting “do something b–.”<\/p>\n

The agent who shot her allegedly said in a group text to friends: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book, boys.”<\/p>\n

“The physical scars will always be there in the mornings and evenings, when I get dressed and I stare at my body, now permanently disfigured by the five lead bullets,” Martinez said. “They will be there this summer when I head to the beach with my dogs and family. They will be there when I get down on the floor with my students.”<\/p>\n

She continued, “Perhaps even worse, the mental scars will always be there as a reminder of the time my own government attempted to execute me, and when they failed, they chose to vilify me.”<\/p>\n

Marimar was joined by other survivors and Renee Good<\/a>‘s family in condemning the fed’s use of force by the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Illinois Democratic leaders were present, calling for sweeping reforms and accountability.<\/p>\n

“That’s why we made it clear that this negotiation to change the standards for ICE is critical for us to continue this agency,” said Sen. Dick Durbin.<\/p>\n

Tuesday’s testimony comes after ABC News learned at least eight more federal prosecutors resigned in Minnesota after the deadly shootings of Good and Alex Pretti<\/a> by federal immigration agents.<\/p>\n

Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.
<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (WLS) — Marimar Martinez detailed her encounter with Border Patrol agents on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":565090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[246398,2330,160543,9559,960,5386,1818,160541,246397],"class_list":["post-565089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-246398","tag-border-patrol","tag-border-patrol-shooting","tag-capitol-hill","tag-chicago","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-marimar-martinez","tag-marimar-martinez-shooting"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116011032237067549","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}