Newly released body camera footage shows the chaotic moments leading up to the fatal shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez, a U.S. citizen, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during a traffic stop in South Padre Island, Texas, on March 15, 2025. The video contradicts the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) official account that Martinez 'accelerated forward' and 'intentionally ran over' an agent, causing another agent to fire 'defensive shots'.
Key Takeaways
Newly released body camera footage contradicts the Department of Homeland Security's account of a fatal shooting involving an ICE agent in Texas. The video shows Ruben Ray Martinez, a US citizen, shot by an agent during a traffic stop on March 15, 2025.
The footage shows different angles from local police officers' body cameras. In one clip, Martinez is seen rolling down the window of his blue Ford Fusion to talk with an agent before slightly turning his car and pulling forward as law enforcement shout at him. Gunshots ring out, but it remains unclear whether any officers were hit by the vehicle.
According to toxicology tests cited by CBS News, alcohol and marijuana were detected in Martinez's system post-mortem. The Texas Department of Public Safety released dozens of body camera videos, evidence, and reports from the investigation on Friday, after previously declining to release footage to media outlets.
The attorneys for Martinez's family argue that the new evidence 'calls ICE's official account of a fatal shooting into question'. They claim the footage confirms that Martinez's car was barely moving when he was shot, that he was braking and not accelerating, and that nobody was on the hood or in front of his car when he was shot. The attorneys further allege that Martinez was shot at point-blank range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger.
Last month, a Texas grand jury declined to indict the federal agent who shot Martinez. Joshua Orta, a passenger in the car with Martinez, also disputed the federal government's account before he died last month in an unrelated car accident. Orta claimed that Martinez did not hit an officer with his vehicle and that a federal agent fired into the driver's side window without warning.
Martinez is believed to be one of three U.S. citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents during President Donald Trump's second term. Unlike in the other two cases, Martinez was not protesting but driving by the scene of a road accident where ICE officers were helping direct traffic.
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