Christopher Parente condemns federal inaction on the Exum shooting
Attorney representing Marimar Martinez
“After learning they are unwilling to do their job, or even investigate the facts, we now turn to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office for help ensuring that the concepts of justice and accountability still exist in the United States of America.”
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Reports that Chicago Police's Investigative Response Team opened a criminal investigation into the Exum shooting after Martinez's attorney said the FBI and DOJ Civil Rights Division had not acted; includes quoted statements from attorney Christopher Parente and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Parente said: "We patiently waited for nearly a year for the FBI or the [Justice Department's] Civil Rights Division to do their job and investigate the attempted murder of Ms. Martinez by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum."
After the quotation
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that CPD's Investigative Response Team had separately been assigned to investigate the shooting, and that no federal agent had been charged with an on-duty crime connected to Operation Midway Blitz.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Was Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum justified in shooting Marimar Martinez?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
Parente directly faults the federal government for refusing to investigate what he calls an attempted murder, framing the inaction as a failure of justice and accountability. That is a condemnation of the federal agencies' handling of the case, not of Exum's conduct itself, so the target is DHS rather than Exum or Border Patrol.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Was Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum justified in shooting Marimar Martinez?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“Whether it be the apartment raids in South Shore, the shooting of Marimar Martinez in Brighton Park, or the murder of Silverio Villegas González, it’s been proven that ICE does NOT keep us safe - they are designed to intimidate communities of color and deport as many people as possible.”Read statement
Cook County State's Attorney's Office
“The Cook County State's Attorney's Office is committed to seeking justice on behalf of anyone harmed during Operation Midway Blitz when the evidence and the law support a prosecution.”Read statement
Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus
“The findings of the Illinois Accountability Commission are clear: a documented pattern of ICE, Border Patrol and federal agents making discriminatory arrests based on race and ethnicity, acting recklessly, endangering the lives of community members and retaliating against rapid responders and community members – not only in the case of Villegas González, but also in the shooting of Marimar Martinez.”Read statement