Prosecutors Seemingly Agree to Release Body Camera Footage of Marimar Martinez Shooting

“My own government attempted to execute me.” That’s a snippet of the testimony given yesterday on Capitol Hill by Marimar Martinez, a Chicago teacher’s assistant who survived being shot five times in her car by a Border Patrol agent in October, only to be charged by federal prosecutors afterward with an attempt to “assault federal officers with a deadly weapon.” That prosecution subsequently fell apart under examination, causing an embarrassed DHS to drop the case against Martinez, even as she went on the offensive, campaigning to get the court to allow body camera footage of the shooting to be released to the public. A decision from a judge on whether to release that body camera footage had been expected this week, only for attorneys representing DHS to suddenly pull an about-face: They now claim that they no longer oppose releasing the footage, saying instead that “certain additional redactions” will be made to blur out the faces of agents.

This would presumably clear the way for U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis, who was already demonstrating frustration with government lawyers’ obfuscation in the case, to okay the release of the footage. The latest hearing concerning the body camera footage had been scheduled for today, but has subsequently been postponed to Friday.

Which is all to say: It now seems highly likely that in the near future, we’re going to be seeing some body camera footage of this Oct. 4, 2025 incident, in which Border Patrol agent Charles Exum, participating in the Chicago “immigration enforcement” operation that was codenamed Midway Blitz, shot a U.S. citizen five times and then subsequently bragged about his accuracy to friends via text. As he said at the time, which was later recounted in court: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book, boys.” One has to wonder if the release of the footage could elevate the notoriety of the case to be more on par with the likes of Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s killings.

But then there’s the elephant in the room: In no way will we be able to trust the footage that DHS ultimately turns over. With their mention of “redactions,” they’re already admitting in an official capacity that they’ll be editing the video in some way before it’s released. Who can say exactly how much they’ll edit? Would they change the audio, in which the attorney for Martinez (who has already seen it) has said that a Border Control agent can be heard taunting her, saying “Do something, bitch,” before exiting the car and firing on her? Will they alter anything else in order to make the footage more closely fit the government’s original narrative, that it was Marimar Martinez who first struck the Border Patrol vehicle, rather than the other way around? How can you possibly trust any piece of video that the government offers up, when the White House has already been caught posting AI-modified photos of arrested protestors in Minnesota while implying that the photos are real until after they get caught? It’s the same conundrum as the body camera footage from the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis: We know that it exists, but we also know that we can’t trust it, coming from a federal government that has already shown itself willing to manipulate images of real Americans in insidious ways. The Marimar Martinez case is especially vulnerable to this threat, given that we don’t have any bystander footage to compare the body camera footage to, whenever it arrives. How would we ever know if something had bene altered, other than Martinez herself or her legal counsel claiming it?

Speaking on Capitol Hill yesterday, and joined by other survivors of violence from federal agents and the brothers of Minnesota’s Renee Good, who was shot to death by an agent of ICE behind the wheel of her own car in a case that Trump’s DOJ refused to investigate, Martinez said that her case was indicative of a federal “pattern of misleading the public,” which is why she has wanted the public to see the footage.

“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. “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. 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. 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.”

Martinez’s testimony will no doubt loom large as Congressional Democrats prepare to engage in combative bargaining with the GOP and Trump himself over the code of conduct by which federal agents are made to abide. She has been brave beyond words in her willingness to place the spotlight upon herself, looking back continuously on the day when an agent of the government attempted to publicly end her life.

Addressing Marimar Martinez, Blumenthal shows text messages from the CBP agent who shot her and says:

"Charles Exum sought to assassinate you, and then DHS sought to assassinate your character. That is unconscionable and intolerable."

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— Tyler McBrien (@tylermcbrien.com) Feb 3, 2026 at 4:45 PM