Overview
- Internal ICE documents show Homeland Security Investigations agents were assisting local police with traffic control on South Padre Island when Ruben Ray Martinez was shot on March 15, 2025.
- DHS describes the gunfire as defensive, saying an agent was struck by Martinez’s car and another agent then fired through the driver’s window to protect officers and the public.
- Martinez, 23, was taken to a Brownsville hospital and pronounced dead; a passenger was detained, and the injured agent was treated for a knee injury and released.
- Federal involvement went undisclosed publicly for nearly eleven months until American Oversight obtained heavily redacted records through a FOIA lawsuit reported by major outlets.
- Martinez’s family and attorneys dispute the official account and cite potential eyewitness or video evidence, as the Texas Rangers continue their investigation ahead of a grand-jury decision.