CHICAGO — A federal judge on Thursday dismissed charges against a woman shot by a Border Patrol agent after she allegedly rammed his vehicle in Brighton Park last month, marking a striking conclusion to one of the most controversial cases to emerge from Operation Midway Blitz.

U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis granted a government motion to dismiss the case in a seven-minute hearing. The charges were dismissed with prejudice, so they cannot be refiled.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron DeWald said prosecutors were not seeking “any tactical advantage” in asking to set the case aside. Earlier in the day they had abruptly moved to dismiss the assault charges against Marimar Martinez and her co-defendant, Anthony Ruiz.

The Ruiz family filed out of the courtroom and let out a small “woo!” in the hallway before a court marshal hushed them. Ruiz’s mother Elizabeth wept as she accepted a hug.

The U.S. attorney’s office made the surprise move just hours before a hearing in front of Alexakis, where defense attorneys were expected to describe new texts from the Border Patrol agent who shot Martinez and discuss witnesses for an upcoming hearing over what the agent did with his vehicle after the Oct. 4 incident.

The new messages, which so far have not been revealed publicly, were ordered turned over to lawyers for Martinez this week after Alexakis viewed them in her chambers and determined they were relevant to the case, court records show.

Martinez’s case is now the latest — and clearly highest-profile — criminal case against protesters of the Trump’s immigration-enforcement push to disintegrate at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.

In the past six weeks, a grand jury has refused to bring an indictment in one case, and charges have been dismissed in a handful of others.

Shortly before moving to dismiss the Martinez case Thursday morning, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss charges against Air Force veteran Dana Briggs, who was accused of assaulting an agent during a protest in Broadview in September. Briggs had faced trial in December and had put Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino on his list of potential witnesses.

In a written statement Thursday, U.S. attorney’s office spokesperson Joseph Fitzpatrick said the office “is constantly evaluating new facts and information relating to cases and investigations arising out of Operation Midway Blitz, the largest ever law enforcement surge in the Northern District of Illinois.”

“This continuous review process applies to all matters — whether charged or under investigation,” the statement read. “It helps ensure that the interests of justice are served in each and every case, and that those cases that are charged are appropriately adjudicated through our federal court system.”

Prosecutors have said Martinez was part of a convoy of civilians who were following agents when she rammed Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum’s vehicle near 39th Street and Kedzie Avenue, prompting Exum to jump out of his Chevrolet Tahoe and fire five shots, wounding Martinez seven times.

Martinez’s attorneys, meanwhile, argue it was Exum who sideswiped Martinez and that his extreme use of force was completely unjustified. They’ve also alleged evidence tampering, saying Exum was inexplicably allowed to drive the Tahoe more than 1,000 miles back to his home base in Maine, where a Border Patrol mechanic attempted to “wipe off” some of the scuff marks from the crash.

Defense attorney Christopher Parente, speaking briefly after the hearing, hinted that further legal action could be on the way.

“Unfortunately Agent Exum cannot take the five bullets that he put into her body and we’re going to work on getting (Martinez) justice for that next,” he said. “Agent Exum, you heard him coming in proud as a peacock, sitting on that stand and bragging in the same way he did to his friends on the encrypted telegram messaging app about how great of a shot he is. He’s going to pay for those shots.”

Martinez will get her phone, keys and gun back, but not her car, Parente said. The car is part of a second investigation, which Parente declined to describe and which was not elaborated on in open court.

Parente said prosecutors had done the right thing by dropping the charges against Martinez and Ruiz.

Martinez wore a black top and pants with a green parka and a huge smile as she stood next to Parente. She was feeling better, she said, and thanked her attorneys, her family and the parents from the day care where she works for their support throughout the proceedings.

Martinez has not been sleeping well while the case was pending, she said, and was excited to go home and rest.

“Put that in your books, Exum,” she said.

The U.S. government was still referring to Martinez and Ruiz as domestic terrorists as recently as Thursday morning in a news release. “The reason this was dismissed was because the facts in those press releases were not true,” Parente said. “When you read the next press release, consider that.”

An upcoming evidentiary hearing had been expected to feature several witnesses who would testify about the decision to release the vehicle, including Exum’s direct supervisor, the FBI agent who helped process it and a federal prosecutor working early stages of the case.

That followed a bombshell hearing earlier this month where it was revealed that after the shooting, as news of the incident was making national headlines, Exum texted a group of other agents that he was “up for another round of “f— around and find out.”

Exum, a 23-year veteran of Border Patrol, also texted the group a link to a news article about the shooting and said, “Read it … I fired 5 shots and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys,” according to court records.

In his court testimony Nov. 5, Exum, who is based in Maine, described the circle of fellow agents he chatted with as a sort of support group for “relieving stress.”

“And what did you mean by ‘Read it. 5 shots?'” asked Parente. “Why are you pointing that fact out?”

“I’m a firearms instructor,” Exum answered. “And I take pride in my shooting skills.”

“You take pride in your shooting skills?” Parente clarified.

“That is correct,” Exum said.

Prosecutors have said Martinez and Ruiz were in a convoy of cars following agents and that Martinez had been broadcasting the pursuit on Facebook Live, “laying on her horn” and “yelling loudly” at the agents.

After the crash and shooting, Martinez drove off, but paramedics discovered her and her vehicle at a repair shop about a mile away, according to a criminal complaint. She was later taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where she was released after being treated for multiple gunshot wounds.

The body camera footage has not been released publicly. But Parente said in court he’d viewed it multiple times and that it showed just before the shooting, one of the agents who was a passenger — not Exum — was captured saying, “Do something, bitch,” while his hands were on his assault rifle.

In his court testimony this month, Exum defended his actions as within department policy, saying an “offensive vehicle-to-vehicle confrontation with a federal agent typically does not happen in the United States.”

“This incident is so unlike anything that we have trained for, this would almost equate to our counter-vehicle-assault training, which typically takes place out of country, in cartel-controlled areas of Mexico, or combat situations,” Exum testified.

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