After a Border Patrol agent shot a woman multiple times following a car crash last month in Brighton Park, he allegedly “bragged” in a text to other agents about how he “take[s] pride in my shooting skills,” a defense attorney revealed in court Wednesday while the agent testified.
The testimony before U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis came on a defense motion regarding supervisory Border Patrol agent Charles Exum’s handling of his Chevrolet Tahoe after it was involved in the Oct. 4 crash with two people who allegedly followed the agents through the Southwest Side.
Exum’s Tahoe sustained some scratches, a black scuff mark on the driver’s door, a dent above the gas cap with a black scuff mark, and other damage to the rear end, he testified. He said his car was swiped on both sides, or “hit,” and not “rammed,” as an initial Department of Homeland Security statement about the incident indicated.
Exum defended his use of force in the incident, saying he acted in self-defense against Marimar Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, who are charged with assault for allegedly tailing Exum’s car and boxing it in before the crash that led to the shooting.
Martinez suffered seven gunshot wounds in the incident.
Martinez’s Nissan Rogue and Ruiz’s GMC Envoy were both seized by the FBI and remain in its custody, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Dewald said.
The FBI seized Exum’s car after the crash to take photos and process it for evidence. Exum said a Border Patrol agent informed him that the FBI said his car was ready to be picked up from the downtown FBI Chicago Field Office later that night.
That was the end of the FBI’s investigation into Exum’s Tahoe, as he understood it, because it was conveyed to him he could take the car and no one indicated it needed to be preserved for evidence, he said.
Exum drove his Tahoe more than 1,000 miles between Oct. 8 and 10 back to his Border Patrol station in Maine, where he parked it inside a garage and left it there, he said.
About a week later, he got a call from an FBI agent asking if any work had been done on the car and he said no, but Exum later checked on the car and noticed it had been moved to another part of the garage and that the black scuff marks were buffed out, he added.
Exum then emailed the Border Patrol agents at his Maine station and their mechanic informing them not to move the car. He also noted that the FBI questioned why the scuff marks were removed.
Exum’s boss, deputy patrol agent Kevin Kellenberger, told Exum in another email — and told FBI agents in an interview last week — that it was his idea to have the scuff marks buffed out, according to defense attorney Chris Parente, who represents Martinez.
Kellenberger wrote in his email that he had thought the Tahoe had undergone all necessary processing for evidence.
“If they needed it as evidence I did not think they would have released it from the investigation, had you drive three days all the way back to Maine, possibly destroying some further evidence along the way,” Kellenberger’s email reads.
But that was apparently contradicted in Exum’s interview with an FBI agent about the shooting in which he said he had obtained approval from his executive management in Maine to get the vehicle repaired, Parente said.
Exum claimed Wednesday he had nothing to do with the car being repaired, and testified that the FBI agent “made a mistake” by noting Exum had gotten approval for repair.
‘I take pride in my shooting skills’
Meanwhile, Parente revealed text messages that Exum sent in a group chat with other federal agents that included a link to a news article about the shooting.
“Read it. 5 shots, 7 holes,” Exum’s text message reads, referring to the five gunshots he fired and the seven wounds suffered by Martinez.
Another text message to his friends that he described as a “support group” chat, partially reads, “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.”
Parente claimed Exum “bragged” about the shooting and asked him why he sent those messages.
“I’m a firearms instructor, and I take pride in my shooting skills,” Exum replied.
And a day after the shooting, another text message Exum sent reads, “Cool. I’m up for another round of ‘f— around and find out.’”
Before granting Exum’s testimony Wednesday, Alexakis said she had heard different portions of the story, including that the car was Exum’s personal car, then that it was a work vehicle.
“What gives me great pause is that the cars have been treated differently,” Alexakis said. “And the story has changed… in small ways.”