Crime & Law
2 Chicagoans, Including Woman Shot by Federal Agents, Charged with Ramming Border Patrol Vehicle
An ICE officer watches protestors as a Lenco BearCat vehicle drives to the scene in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, after protesters learned that U.S. Border Patrol shot a woman Saturday morning on Chicago's Southwest Side. (Anthony Vazquez / Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
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Federal prosecutors charged two Chicagoans, including a woman shot by federal agents, with ramming a vehicle driven by an U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in Brighton Park on Saturday morning, sparking a heated confrontation between residents of the Southwest Side neighborhood and federal agents.
Marimar Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, are facing felony charges of “forcibly assaulting, impeding, and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros announced Sunday.
The incident began late Saturday morning when Martinez and Ruiz, “used their vehicles to strike a vehicle” driven by a Border Patrol officer near west 39th Street and south Kedzie Avenue in Brighton Park,” according to a statement from federal prosecutors.
“After striking the agents’ vehicle, the defendants’ vehicles boxed in the agents’ vehicle, the complaint states,” according to a statement from federal prosecutors that said a total of three Border Patrol agents were in the vehicle at the time. “The agent was unable to move his vehicle and exited the car, at which point he fired approximately five shots from his service weapon at Martinez, the complaint states.”
Although federal prosecutors asked that both Martinez and Ruiz be detained while awaiting trial, U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather McShain ordered them released, citing their lack of a criminal record and strong ties to the Chicago community.
None of the agents were injured, according to a statement posted by Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
Although McLaughlin said Martinez was “armed with a semi-automatic weapon,” federal prosecutors did not charge Martinez with weapons violations, or allege she fired at federal agents.
Martinez, who was struck several times, drove to a repair shop about a mile away, according to federal prosecutors. Martinez was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she received treatment for gunshot wounds, according to a statement from federal prosecutors.
Ruiz was arrested at a gas station about a half block away, according to a statement from federal prosecutors.
McLaughlin said the incident began when “law enforcement officers were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.”
The officers were acting as a “security detail” at the time, and were “followed by a convoy of civilian vehicles,” including a silver Nissan Rogue driven by Martinez and a black GMC Envoy driven by Ruiz, according to the complaint.
The vehicles in the “convoy … drove aggressively and erratically,” disobeying stop signs, red lights and heading the “the wrong way down one-way streets” in pursuit of the federal vehicles, according to the complaint.
Martinez used her vehicle to sideswipe the federal agents’ vehicle, and Ruiz used his vehicle to strike the rear-right end of the federal vehicle, according to the complaint.
McLaughlin’s statement said Martinez was named in an “intelligence bulletin last week for doxing agents and posting online ‘Hey to all my gang let’s f--- those mother f-----s up, don’t let them take anyone.’”
Both defendants are in custody, according to a statement from federal prosecutors. It is not clear if either has retained an attorney nor has their first court appearances been scheduled.
Ruiz’s mother, who rushed to the scene of the shooting, told the Chicago Tribune she was on the phone with her son when his car was struck by a vehicle driven by federal agents.
Community organizations have been working to identify the location of federal agents in Chicago neighborhoods to warn undocumented immigrants of their presence. Groups have distributed whistles and created text and phone networks to sound the alarm.
Martinez is the second person to be shot by federal agents sent to Chicago by President Donald Trump’s administration as part of an aggressive immigration enforcement operation dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz” that began Sept. 8.
A gas canister erupts on the street in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, after protesters learned that U.S. Border Patrol shot a woman Saturday morning on Chicago's Southwest Side. (Anthony Vazquez / Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Chicago police officers “responded to the scene to document the incident,” according to a department statement. “CPD officers were also on-scene to maintain safety and traffic control for all living and working in the area. CPD is not involved in the incident or its investigation.”
Dozens of Chicagoans converged on the scene of the shooting to protest the actions of federal agents in a neighborhood home to many Latino residents.
Chicago Police Department Chief of Patrol Jon Hein sent a message to police directing them to not respond to a call for service from armed Border Patrol agents surrounded by the crowd, according to a screenshot of an internal department message posted on X by Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward).
After federal agents armed with military-style weapons and combat fatigues fired tear gas and pepper balls at the crowd, Chicago police officers in their regular uniforms separated protestors and the agents.
It was unclear how many people were detained during the protests that erupted after the shooting, which lasted approximately four hours. Federal agents left the area after again deploying tear gas.
Several Chicago police officers were exposed to tear gas during the protest, according to videos posted on social media.
Another video posted to social media showed a man near the scene of the shooting and protest urging an armed federal agent to leave Chicago before he is grabbed by the neck and forcefully tackled to the ground where several agents handcuff him after a scuffle. An online fundraiser identifies the man as a U.S. citizen of Italian heritage and says he suffered serious head injuries.
McLaughlin’s initial statement about the incident included several errors.
It initially identified the location of the shooting as “Broadview,” home to an ICE processing facility in a suburb outside Chicago.
It also said the Chicago Police Department was controlled by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. CPD reports to Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has not yet commented on the shooting.
McLaughlin’s statement said Martinez drove herself to the hospital to get treatment for her wounds, while the federal charges say paramedics transported her to the hospital.
Federal agents shot and killed Silverio Villegas González Sept. 12 during a traffic stop in west suburban Franklin Park. Federal agents said Villegas González resisted arrest and attempted to drive his car into ICE officers, dragging one officer.
Federal officials told reporters that the officer who opened fire had been “seriously injured” during the encounter. But body-worn camera footage first obtained by the Sun-Times shows that he described his injuries as “nothing major” shortly after the shooting.
Pritzker has called for a full investigation of the Franklin Park shooting, and blasted federal officials for being unwilling to allow an outside probe of the shooting and sharing incorrect information.
Pritzker told CNN Sunday morning said it was “hard to know” exactly what happened Saturday in Brighton Park.
“They won’t let us access the facts. They are just putting out their propaganda, and then we have got to later determine what actually happened,” Pritzker said. “What happens in these sorts of incidents is, typically, ICE puts out a press release before anybody else can speak with the press, and then it gets reported on social media and elsewhere.”
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
