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We Got This Covered
Jorge Aguilar

‘Do something!’: Trump’s Federal agent goon taunted Chicago woman moments before shooting her five times

The attorney for a 30-year-old Chicago woman shot by a federal agent over the weekend claims that body-camera footage captures the officer taunting her, saying, “Do something, b****,” moments before opening fire. This is the shocking new detail to come out of the shooting that happened on Saturday morning in the Brighton Park neighborhood, as federal immigration agents, acting on behalf of the Trump administration, have been searching Chicago for people to deport.

The shooting victim, Marimar Martinez, and a 21-year-old man, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, have been officially charged with “forcibly assaulting, impeding, and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer”. The government’s official criminal complaint alleges that a “convoy of civilian vehicles,” including those driven by Martinez and Ruiz, followed and aggressively pursued a government vehicle carrying three border protection agents, eventually boxing them in, per The Guardian.

Prosecutors claim Martinez and Ruiz struck the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicle, causing the agents to temporarily lose control. The complaint says that after the CBP vehicle was struck and boxed in, one agent exited the car. At this point, the complaint alleges, Martinez drove her car northbound directly toward the agent. This is when the agent “proceeded to fire approximately five shots from his service weapon at the driver of the Martinez Vehicle”.

Immigration may be lying again to justify assault and murder

Martinez fled the scene but was later found at a repair shop about a mile away, where she was treated for gunshot wounds. However, the whole case took a sharp turn when Martinez’s defense attorney, Christopher Parente, disputed the government’s portrayal. Parente claims the body-camera footage shows the officer driving the vehicle suddenly “turn the wheel to the left” before jumping out and immediately starting to shoot.

The attorney stated that the officer fired within seconds of getting out of the car. This wouldn’t be the first time ICE officers lied, and many act like bullies with power.

The most damning part of the defense’s challenge is the claim that the officer can be heard on the body-cam footage taunting Martinez with the phrase, “Do something, bitch,” right before he started firing. Parente also emphasized that Martinez was the one seriously injured, pointing out that she has “seven holes in her body from five shots from this agent”. A judge must have seen merit in the defense’s argument because both Martinez and Ruiz were ordered released from custody pending trial on Monday.

The government’s claims are made even more confusing because federal officials with the Department of Homeland Security initially said Martinez was armed with a semi-automatic weapon at the time and had allegedly doxed agents online the week prior. You’d think that would be a key part of the case, but the official criminal complaint doesn’t even mention her being armed.

On the other hand, Assistant US Attorney Sean Hennessy described Martinez and Ruiz’s actions as “extremely dangerous and extremely reckless”. Hennessy did mention in the Monday hearing that Martinez had a loaded gun in her purse, but acknowledged that she has a concealed-carry permit and that she didn’t brandish the gun during the interaction. Hennessy also said that the body-camera footage recorded agents saying, “We’re getting boxed in! We gotta get out of here! She’s going to make contact,” before their car was struck.

The core of the dispute now lies in that body-camera footage, which hasn’t been made public. The claims of the officer yelling the taunt before firing paint a picture that is night and day from the government’s initial narrative.

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