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Gone quiet · last update Oct 5, 2026

The Border Patrol shooting of Marimar Martinez in Chicago and her lawsuit

Overview · reviewed October 17, 2026

Marimar Martinez, a US citizen, survived being shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago in October 2025. Federal prosecutors charged her after the encounter, but the case was dismissed. In October 2026 she sued the US government, challenging the agent's account of the shooting.[1][2]

Read the timeline

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Coverage over time

Share of tracked outlets · weekly (UTC)

Week of 2025-11-17 (UTC): 6%, 12 of 189 tracked outlets (4 left, 7 center, 1 right)Week of 2025-11-24 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2025-12-01 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2025-12-08 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2025-12-15 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2025-12-22 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2025-12-29 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-01-05 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-01-12 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-01-19 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-01-26 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-02-02 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-02-09 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-02-16 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-02-23 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-03-02 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-03-09 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-03-16 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-03-23 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-03-30 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-04-06 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-04-13 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-04-20 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-04-27 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-05-04 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-05-11 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-05-18 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-05-25 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-06-01 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-06-08 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-06-15 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-06-22 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-06-29 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-07-06 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-07-13 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-07-20 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-07-27 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-08-03 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-08-10 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-08-17 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-08-24 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-08-31 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-09-07 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-09-14 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-09-21 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-09-28 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-10-05 (UTC): 4%, 20 of 479 tracked outlets (7 left, 9 center, 4 right)Week of 2026-10-12 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-10-19 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-10-26 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-11-02 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outletsWeek of 2026-11-09 (UTC): no coverage from tracked outlets, so far

LeftCenterRightLighter bar: this week so far

Each bar is the share of the outlets on our Left / Center / Right rating scale that we tracked publishing that week which carried reporting on this story, split by the outlets' ratings. We track more outlets now than in the archive, so a share keeps earlier and later weeks comparable. An outlet counts once a week however much it published, and outlets in one ownership or syndication group count as one on each side they appear on. A rating describes the outlet, not the report. A gap means no such reports were collected that week, not that nothing was reported anywhere. Weeks run Monday to Sunday in UTC, so a report published on a Sunday evening in US Eastern time counts in the next week. 1 more outlet off the scale (not rated, or outside the left-right graphs) also reported; they are not in this chart. See them.

Weekly counts, outlets and reports (2 weeks with coverage)
Outlets on the rating scale that carried this story each week, of the outlets tracked that week, newest first
Week of (UTC)LeftCenterRightOf trackedShareReceipts
Oct 5, 202679420 of 4794%
Nov 17, 202547112 of 1896%

Latest coverage

The newest reporting in this story's record.

  1. Oct 5, 2026 · first reported · Headline from FOX 8 Cleveland

    US citizen who was shot by immigration agent in Chicago files lawsuit

Background

On October 4, 2025, Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot Marimar Martinez on Chicago's southwest side. Prosecutors accused Martinez and another driver, Anthony Ruiz, of using their vehicles to strike and box in the agent's vehicle.[1] Her legal team disputed that account and said federal agents had rammed her car.[1]

Prosecutors later moved to drop the case. A federal judge dismissed the charges against Martinez and Ruiz with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled.[1]

Martinez filed a lawsuit against the federal government in October 2026. Her attorneys said an analysis of bullet trajectories showed that Exum was not standing in front of her vehicle and that his final shot entered through a rear passenger window. They alleged that the evidence contradicted his account of the encounter.[2]

Supporting stories (2)
  1. Prosecutors move to dismiss charges against Chicago woman shot after ramming car at law enforcement vehicle
  2. US citizen who was shot by immigration agent in Chicago files lawsuit alleging he fired from behind

The full record

Each date is when an update was first reported.

All 2 recorded updates

October 2026

  1. US citizen who was shot by immigration agent in Chicago files lawsuit alleging he fired from behindHeadline from MyNorthwest · 21 outlets

November 2025

  1. Prosecutors move to dismiss charges against Chicago woman shot after ramming car at law enforcement vehicleHeadline from KYMA Yuma · 13 outlets

Coverage & sources

Read the reports, see how much was collected over time, or compare outlets by political leaning.

Coverage & sources →