2 federally charged after woman allegedly rams CBP agents with her SUV

CHICAGO (WGN) — A man and a woman were charged in federal court Sunday after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents alleged their vehicle was struck and blocked by a pair of vehicles on Saturday.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Chicago, 30-year-old Marimar Martinez and 21-year-old Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz were both charged with using their vehicles to assault, impede and interfere with the work of federal agents in Chicago near the intersection of West 39th Street and South Kedzie Avenue.

The complaint alleges Martinez and Ruiz used their vehicles to strike a vehicle driven by a CBP agent with two other CBP agents inside of it on Saturday morning. After striking the agents’ vehicle, the defendants boxed in the agents’ vehicle, the complaint states. The agent was unable to move his vehicle, exited the car, and fired approximately five shots from his service weapon at Martinez, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges both Martinez and Ruiz drove away after the collision and were later found within a mile of where the crash originally happened.

Martinez was found at a repair shop about one mile away, where she was taken by ambulance to a local hospital and received treatment after being shot, the complaint said. Ruiz and his vehicle were found at a gas station about a half block away.

Martinez and Ruiz remain in police custody, pending initial appearances in federal court in Chicago.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security said border patrol agents were conducting a routine patrol in the area of West 39th Street and South Kedzie Avenue when they were allegedly “attacked and rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.”

Agents then got out of the alleged trapped vehicle, and officials said that was when a female suspect—who is a US citizen—allegedly tried to run them over, forcing the agents to open fire.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the woman who allegedly tried to run the CBP agents over was also allegedly armed with a “semi-automatic weapon.”

Officials said after the woman was shot, she drove herself to the hospital.

Sources later told WGN-TV that the woman was admitted in critical condition after she drove herself to a local hospital. No CBP agents were wounded during the incident.

“One of the drivers who rammed the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon. Law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fired defensive shots at an armed US citizen who drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds,” McLaughlin said. “Comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences.

“The men and women of ICE and CBP are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer. Like everyone else, they just want to go home to their families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop. We are praying for our law enforcement and their families. This is an evolving situation, and we will give the public more information as soon as it becomes available.”