By Camilo Montoya-Galvez; Jared Eggleston, Brad Hodges, Joe Walsh
Updated on: March 7, 2026 / 8:40 PM EST / CBS News
Video of the March 15, 2025, fatal shooting of 23-year-old U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez, obtained by CBS News, appears to contradict federal claims that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fired because Martinez “accelerated” and “intentionally ran over” another agent.
Local outlets reported the killing in South Padre Island, Texas, at the time, but ICE did not confirm an agency agent had fatally shot Martinez until February 2026. An internal report released by a nonprofit watchdog last month echoed ICE and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statements that Martinez “accelerated forward” and struck an agent, and that an ICE agent fired “defensive shots” after Martinez “intentionally ran over” another agent.
The newly obtained body camera video, from a South Padre Island police officer, shows Martinez’s blue Ford Fusion stationary or moving at a very low speed when gunshots are heard. Brake lights are visible during the shots. After being shot three times, Martinez is pulled from the vehicle, thrown to the ground face down by an ICE agent, and handcuffed. Personnel on scene are not seen providing medical care until after he is restrained.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) investigated the shooting; a grand jury in February 2026 declined to return criminal indictments. Acting ICE director Todd Lyons told CBS News the agency “stands by the grand jury’s unanimous decision” and cited the Texas Rangers’ investigative account that Martinez was “holding a bottle of Crown Royal Whiskey,” “rolling toward an officers location,” “rolled forward and made an immediate left turn,” and that an agent “appears to move as if he were on the vehicles hood.”
That account was questioned by people at the scene. Joshua Orta, Martinez’s best friend and a passenger, gave a draft declaration saying Martinez “did not hit anyone” and was trying to comply with officers’ commands. Orta died in a separate car crash in February 2026 before signing the declaration.
DPS released records including a video interview with Orta in which he said he and Martinez had been drinking earlier and were driving from Whataburger to a friend’s condo when they encountered heavy police presence. Orta said Martinez became “jittery” and “panicked” when ordered to stop, and “out of reaction” slightly pushed the gas so the car “was barely moving.” Orta said Martinez turned left and the car moved slightly; an officer “got on the hood a little bit” after his feet may have gotten caught, but Orta did not think Martinez actually hit the officer. He described hearing an officer yell “stop” and then gunshots.
Orta suggested Martinez may have been worried about an open container in the car and feared being cited for driving while intoxicated. A toxicology screen after Martinez’s death detected alcohol and marijuana. Family lawyers have said Martinez was never stopped on suspicion of public intoxication or DUI.
The bodycam footage shows Martinez’s vehicle approaching a heavy law enforcement area about 21 minutes into the recording. Someone is heard saying “keep going.” The car moves forward and stops for pedestrians. Officers then shout “stop him” and “get him out” and rush toward the vehicle. Three gunshots ring out. In the video, the rear of Martinez’s car is visible when shots are fired and the vehicle appears to be moving very slowly, if at all, with brake lights illuminated.
After the shots, the vehicle slowly moves, then stops. Officers order Martinez and Orta out. The video shows an ICE agent removing Martinez from the car and throwing him to the ground; he is later handcuffed. Emergency responders are seen rendering care about two minutes after the shots; officers who restrained him are not seen giving immediate medical aid.
Attorneys Charles M. Stam and Alex Stamm, representing Martinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, said the footage raises “further questions” and “confirms that Ruben’s car was barely moving when he was shot. That he was braking, not accelerating. That nobody was on the hood of his car. That nobody was in front of his car when he was shot. That he was shot at point-blank range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger.”
The bodycam also captured a preliminary briefing to the South Padre Island police chief roughly 30 minutes after the incident in which an officer claimed Martinez “stepped on it” and was “on top of the other agents in front” before being shot; that officer did not mention any injuries.
Reyes, in her first television interview since her son’s death, said she has struggled to find closure because she had not received videos or reports nearly a year after the killing. She called for transparency and reforms in how immigration agents carry out their duties, saying she believes “something needs to be changed” regarding “pattern of violence or abuse and impunity.”
