Overview
- Texas DPS published multiple body‑camera and security videos and investigative records that show Ruben Ray Martinez’s car was stationary or moving slowly with brake lights on when shots were fired; the involved HSI agent was not wearing a body camera.
- DHS has maintained that Martinez intentionally ran over an agent and that Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens fired defensive shots, while Stevens later wrote he feared a potential mass‑casualty attack and said Special Agent Hector Sosa ended up on the hood.
- The newly released videos, captured from behind the vehicle, do not show an impact with an agent, though some officers on scene later described Martinez as having “stepped on it” and being “on top of agents,” and a Texas Rangers report says the car was slowly driving forward.
- After three shots were fired through the driver’s side window, officers pulled Martinez from the car and handcuffed him before medical care is seen; an autopsy found all three bullets struck him and toxicology recorded a 0.12% blood alcohol level with marijuana and alprazolam detected.
- Passenger Joshua Orta told investigators Martinez panicked and did not intend to harm officers, but he died in an unrelated crash on Feb. 21 before he could testify, and the family’s lawyers are pressing for the release of all remaining evidence.