Video footage appears to cast doubt on Department of Homeland Security claims of a fatal 2025 shooting involving an agent

Videos released by the Texas Department of Public Safety appear to cast doubt on the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the fatal shooting of a US citizen that occurred on South Padre Island, Texas, in March 2025.

Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was shot and killed by a Homeland Security Investigations agent on March 15, 2025. Local media initially reported the incident as an officer-involved shooting. The Department of Homeland Security did not even reveal its agent’s involvement February when Media reported That customers are involved.

In a statement provided to the San Antonio ABC affiliate, DHS said HSI agents were assisting South Padre Island police officers with traffic control after an unrelated incident at the popular spring break destination when a driver “intentionally struck” an agent “resulting in him being on the hood of a vehicle.”

The statement continued: “Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his colleagues, and the general public.”

The Department of Homeland Security said one officer was taken to the hospital with a knee injury after the incident.

In a statement provided to ABC News, lawyers for Martinez’s mother said the video footage cast doubt on DHS’s account of the shooting.

“These new videos confirm that Robin’s car was barely moving when he was shot,” the statement from attorneys Charles M. Stamm and Alex Stamm said. “That he was braking, not accelerating. That there was no one on the hood of his car. That there was no one in front of his car when he was shot. And that he was shot at close range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger.”

The statement went on to say: “This body of evidence shows no justification for Robin’s murder.

“We stand by the grand jury’s unanimous decision that found no crime. This incident was investigated from every possible angle by an independent panel, and our officer was exonerated,” Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, said in a statement.

Body camera video

Footage from a South Padre police officer’s body-worn camera appears to show the blue Ford driven by Martinez slowly approaching the intersection and pulling forward when someone is heard saying, “Keep going.”

Martinez’s car slows to a crawl or potentially stops when a group of pedestrians is seen crossing the street. Martinez moves forward past the pedestrians and the officers appear concerned, shouting “stop him” and “get him out.” Three shots can be heard as the officer with the camera runs toward the car.

Martinez’s brake lights apparently were on when he was shot. Because the DPS footage does not include the perspective of the agent who shot Martinez, it does not show any possible influence between the agents and the vehicle.

The phrase “someone stop the car” can be heard when the car comes to a complete stop.

Agents were then seen pulling Martinez and his passenger, Joshua Orta, from the vehicle. Paramedics at the scene began rendering aid approximately more than a minute after he was pulled from the vehicle.

A toxicology report released showed Martinez’s blood alcohol level at 0.12% above the legal limit of 0.08%.

In his statement to ABC News, Lyons, the acting chief of ICE, pointed to an investigative report by the Texas Rangers that included analysis of multiple body cameras, which showed Martinez carrying a bottle of Crown Royal Whiskey and “rolling toward the officers’ location,” Lyons said in the statement.

“The officers are yelling ‘Where are you going?’ and ‘Stop him.’” At this point, one of the officers directing traffic was “directly in front of the Fusion” and “only half a car away,” Lyons’ statement continued.

“Martinez drove forward and immediately turned left,” Lyons said. Then “the client appears to move as if he were on the hood of a car.”

Agent’s point of view

The agent who shot Martinez, known in documents as Jack Stevens, said he approached the car after an officer shouted to “get him out.” Stevens said as he approached, he noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the driver’s side window, according to documents.

“The driver’s eyes were wide open, his fist clenched on the steering wheel, and he was looking at the officers at the scene as he failed to comply with the loud and repetitive verbal commands of multiple law enforcement officers. This is behavior I have observed in my training and experience as a pre-attack indicator and sign of non-compliance where the suspect was looking in the path of their intended movement and not indicating compliance,” he said.

“If this path of movement were left unmitigated, the use of the vehicle as a weapon would result in many casualties,” he wrote.

Stevens said he was struck and struck backwards by the driver’s side A-pillar and side mirror, according to documents. He said he tried to reverse to avoid being run over and was “still in contact with the vehicle when the vehicle struck” another customer.

Stevens said recent incidents in which vehicles were used as weapons, such as the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans earlier in the year, were “fresh in my mind,” according to the documents.

“When you notice the SA vehicle being bombed [Hector] Sosa caused him to fall onto the hood of the vehicle and driving through the scene, with SA Sosa clinging to the hood of the vehicle, service fired and fired a handgun through the open driver’s side window striking the driver several times. This action stopped the threat and gained compliance from the driver, who stopped the car and put it in park, he wrote.

A grand jury decided not to issue an indictment in the case, South Texas ABC affiliate KRGV reported.

The passenger speaks with investigators

In a recording of an interview that was also released, passenger Joshua Orta told investigators that when they approached the scene, an officer spotted an alcohol container in the car but told him to keep going and turn left, but Martinez continued to walk straight toward the other officers, Orta said.

“Then, you know, he panicked and turned the wheel, and he didn’t put the gas down but he went a little bit and I think they thought he was trying to run the cop over or something,” Orta said in the interview.

He said: “I saw the officer standing on the hood of the car. It was as if he did not hit him, but as if he… grabbed his feet.”

Orta said Martinez did not intend to run over the agents.

“He didn’t know what to do… he certainly didn’t want to go to prison. But as far as running over an officer… he wasn’t going to do that,” he said.

Orta died in a car accident in February, KRGV reported.