A woman and man are charged with assault for allegedly ramming their vehicle into a car carrying federal immigration agents on Chicago’s Southwest Side on Saturday, prompting one of the agents to open fire.

Marimar Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, both of Chicago, are each charged in a criminal complaint filed Sunday with forcibly assaulting, impeding, and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer.

The agent who was driving 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 stated. Martinez was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she received treatment for gunshot wounds and was released into FBI custody.

Initial court appearances have not been set. It was not clear if either defendant had retained an attorney.

According to the complaint, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent was driving near the intersection of West 39th Street and South Kedzie Avenue on Saturday with two other CBP agents as passengers.

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 convoy of civilian vehicles followed the agents closely and pursued the BPAs aggressively,” the complaint stated, including “disobeying traffic laws, including running red lights and stop signs, driving in the wrong lane, and driving the wrong way down one-way streets.”

During the chase, Martinez and Ruiz each used their vehicles to strike the officers’ car on both the driver’s and passenger’s side, respectively, leading to a “temporary loss of control of the CBP vehicle,” the complaint stated. Other cars then boxed in the agents’ vehicle, and when the agent who was driving exited the car he opened fire.

All three agents were equipped with body-worn cameras, but only the camera of one of the passengers was switched on at the time of the shooting, the complaint stated.

Martinez drove off but paramedics discovered her and her vehicle at a repair shop about a mile away, according to the complaint. She was taken by ambulance to Mt. Sinai hospital.

Ruiz also drove away after the collisions, but law enforcement located him and his vehicle at a gas station about a half block away, the complaint stated.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said officers were “forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed U.S. citizen who drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds.”

Activists and “rapid response” volunteers — people tracking agents across the city in an effort to disrupt their actions by warning of their presence and filming arrests — have shared a far different initial summary.

“Our understanding of part of the incident this morning is that ICE’s car collided with a civilian car and then agents shot five bullets,” said Brandon Lee, a spokesperson for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

An online video purported to be of the collision was circulating Sunday on social media, but the shooting itself was not captured.

Elizabeth Ruiz, 51, said federal agents rammed the back of a car driven by her son, Anthony Ruiz, after the shooting. The mother said the agents then detained her son, a 21-year-old U.S. citizen, and confiscated the car.

“They turned it all around,” she said of the Trump administration’s description of what happened.

Ruiz said she was on the phone with her son when the shooting began.

When she arrived at the scene, agents took him into custody. They later told her he could be released Monday, she said.

“It was one of your guys that rammed my son, why are you arresting him?” she recalled telling the agents after they detained him.

ICE actions have intensified in recent days, culminating with another promise from President Donald Trump to federalize and send in National Guard troops.

Among those caught up in the activity in recent days was Ald. Jessie Fuentes.

Nearly every elected official in Chicago City Hall has signed a letter condemning her detainment Friday by federal agents.

Agents grabbed Fuentes, 26th, and roughly handcuffed her in a Humboldt Park hospital emergency room as she demanded they show her a warrant for an injured man they had also detained. She was released moments later after insisting the agents say what crime she had committed.

Fuentes’ arrest is “now new, nor an isolated incident,” said the letter listing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s name first and also signed by 37 aldermen.

“ICE agents continue to violate civil liberties with impunity, and if we continue to allow this erosion of due process to go unchecked, we risk undermining the foundation of our democracy,” it said.

And it continued with a call to action for Chicagoans: “What’s playing out day-by-day is a warning that we must organize and not relent. Speak out and show up. Go to ICE watch training

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/05/woman-shot-ice-charged-brighton-park/