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NEWLY released body-worn camera footage and internal communications have cast fresh doubt on the US government’s account of the shooting of a Chicago schoolteacher by a Border Patrol agent during an immigration enforcement operation last autumn.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Federal prosecutors disclosed the video, along with emails and text messages, after a district court judge ruled on Friday that the government had shown “zero concern” for Marimar Martinez’s reputation.
The material was made public late on Tuesday by the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
Martinez, 31, a Montessori teacher and US citizen, survived after being shot five times on 4 October.
At the time, the Department of Homeland Security said she had “ambushed” a Border Patrol vehicle and that an agent had fired in self-defence after she rammed officers with her car.
However, the footage appears to indicate that agents may have initiated the collision themselves.
In the video, recorded from inside a Border Patrol vehicle as protesters sounded their horns outside, one agent is heard saying “do something, bitch” shortly before the vehicles collide.
Another agent, seated in the vehicle driven by agent Exum, says they are being boxed in. “It’s time to get aggressive,” he says, adding, “we’re going to make contact.”
Moments later, the video shows the steering wheel being turned sharply to the left. “We’re gonna make contact and we are boxed in,” an agent says just before impact.
After the collision, the bodycam recording captures an officer stating over the radio: “Be advised we’ve been struck, we’ve been struck.”
Exum then exits the vehicle and fires five shots. According to text messages later disclosed in court, he subsequently wrote in a group chat with fellow agents: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book, boys.”
Martinez drove away from the scene and was taken by ambulance to hospital. She was later indicted on charges of impeding a federal officer, though those charges were dropped in November.
The Department of Homeland Security statement describing her as a “domestic terrorist” remains online.
Her lawyer, Christopher Parente, said she sought the release of the material both to clear her name and in the wake of last month’s fatal shootings of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents. He confirmed she intends to file a civil lawsuit.
The disclosures also raise questions about the handling of evidence. During court proceedings it emerged that Exum had driven the Chevrolet Tahoe involved in the incident back to his base in Maine, where repairs were carried out by a Customs and Border Protection mechanic before defence experts were able to examine the vehicle.
Among the documents released was an email sent on the afternoon of the shooting by Gregory Bovino, then Border Patrol’s commander-at-large overseeing operations in Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis.
Bovino, who was later demoted following Pretti’s death, thanked Exum for his “excellent service” in Chicago and encouraged him to delay his planned retirement. “You have much left to do!” he wrote.
The newly disclosed material forms part of a broader federal review of the incident, which occurred amid a heightened immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump’s administration. - February 11, 2026