Ruben Ray Martinez was just 23 when he was reportedly shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last year. Now, as new details about what happened begin to surface, his family says they are still searching for clarity and accountability, hoping for real answers about the moments that led to his death.
Martinez was killed on March 15, 2025, during a late-night traffic encounter in South Padre Island, Texas, involving local law enforcement and agents from Homeland Security Investigations. According to his family’s attorneys, one of the misconceptions they want to correct is that Martinez was involved in political activism.
According to Newsweek, the attorneys said, “Ruben’s mother, Rachel Reyes, voted for Donald Trump in 2024. Ruben was not protesting anything he was celebrating his 23rd birthday with a childhood friend. Unlike other victims labeled as ‘domestic terrorists’ by the White House, Ruben was simply a young man trying to get home. Ruben was a UFC enthusiast whose hobbies included music and cars, who worked at an Amazon fulfillment warehouse outside San Antonio.”
The family says they have struggled for months to obtain basic information about the shooting. Attorneys claim they have been “stonewalled when requesting information” and that efforts through a Freedom of Information Act request yielded little clarity.
Internal ICE documents indicate that Martinez’s vehicle struck an agent assisting with traffic control. The report states that after the contact, another agent fired multiple rounds at the vehicle. Martinez was transported to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
However, a sworn statement from Martinez’s close friend Joshua Orta, who was in the vehicle that night before his recent death in a car crash, challenges that account. Orta said the vehicle was moving slowly and that Martinez did not intentionally hit an agent.
Family attorneys argue the conflicting accounts point to confusion at the scene. They described it as “a chaotic scene with conflicting directives shouted at a confused young man by multiple agencies,” and questioned why deadly force was used.
They are now asking why no body camera footage from March 15, 2025, has been released and why it took nearly 11 months for details of federal involvement to become public.
Attorneys for Reyes said: “For nearly a year, DHS has disclosed almost no information about why Ruben was killed, why authorities refused to provide information to Ruben’s own mother as she sought answers, why ICE was detaining drivers at a traffic roadblock, and whether the agent who shot Ruben was placed on leave or otherwise investigated.”
Calls for transparency are growing as the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Ranger Division continues its investigation.