SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas – New details have been revealed about a 23-year-old San Antonio man who was killed after a shooting involving Homeland Security special agents last year on South Padre Island.
Ruben Ray Martinez died at a hospital after the shooting on March 15, 2025, the Texas Department of Public Safety told KRGV, but it was never publicly confirmed how he was killed or who killed him.
The investigation by the Texas Rangers remains ongoing, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
However, internal documents obtained by nonprofit American Oversight show the department knew an HSI special agent shot Martinez as early as March 17.
According to the Significant Incident Report obtained by American Oversight through an open records request, the special agent discharged “multiple rounds” at Martinez, who was later described as “hit by the discharged rounds.”
KSAT has not independently obtained the report. According to its website, American Oversight is a nonpartisan organization focused on government transparency.
The death of Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, would mark the earliest of at least six deadly shootings by federal officers since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
According to a DHS spokesperson, HSI investigators were assisting the South Padre Island Police Department with traffic control after a “major accident.”
Homeland Security special agents were redirecting traffic just after midnight, the report states, and Martinez failed to follow the detour route instructions.
Martinez then stopped his vehicle at the instruction of multiple agents, according to the report.
Agents then surrounded the vehicle and ordered him to exit, the report said, but Martinez drove forward and struck an agent, who wound up on the hood of the vehicle.
The agent was taken to a local hospital for a knee injury and was later released.
After Martinez hit the agent, another special agent then began firing “multiple rounds at the driver through the open driver’s side window.”
A DHS spokesperson described these as “defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public,” but the department still has not publicly identified whether the bullets hit Martinez and whether it was the cause of his death.
Medical aid was rendered to Martinez by HSI agents and paramedics already on the scene, the report states, before he was transported to a Brownsville hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Martinez and the passenger in his vehicle were U.S. citizens, according to the report.
In a news conference Friday, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said the lack of information made public makes it “look like it was an organized cover-up of the shooting.”
Castro said he will reach out to Martinez’s family to offer his office’s support, as well as ask the Department of Justice and congressional committees to investigate.
On Saturday, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones joined calls for an congressional investigation into the shooting. However, she said that she was skeptical about any attempts by Trump administration officials to complete a fair investigation.
“In normal times, I would call upon the appropriate departments to investigate this matter. However, we’re not in normal times, and it’s unclear any department-led investigations would be fairly executed, as evident by the delay in getting answers to this point.
“Therefore, our Congressional leaders must do their part in initiating an oversight investigation into the death of Ruben Ray Martinez”
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones
KSAT has reached out to the Texas Department of Public Safety for more information regarding its investigation. The full statement from the Department of Homeland Security can be read below:
“On March 15, 2025, Homeland Security Investigation special agents were assisting the South Padre Island Police Department with traffic control after a major accident.
“A driver of a blue Ford intentionally ran over a Homeland Security Investigation special agent resulting in him being on the hood of the vehicle.
“Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public.
“The driver was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. The agent who was ran over sustained a knee injury and was taken to the hospital.
“This incident is under active investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety Ranger Division. All further questions should be deferred to them.”
Homeland Security spokesperson
The Associated Press’ Michael Biesecker and Jesse Bedayn contributed to this report.
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