CBS News obtained body-worn camera footage that appears to contradict federal and DHS accounts of the March 15, 2025, fatal shooting of 23-year-old U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez in South Padre Island, Texas.
Local outlets first reported the killing in 2025, but ICE did not confirm an agency agent had fired until February 2026. A nonprofit watchdog’s internal report released last month echoed ICE and DHS statements that Martinez “accelerated forward” and struck an agent, and that an ICE officer fired “defensive shots” after Martinez “intentionally ran over” another agent.
The newly obtained video, recorded on a South Padre Island police officer’s body camera, shows Martinez’s blue Ford Fusion either stopped or moving at a very slow speed when gunfire is heard. Brake lights are visible during the shots. According to the footage, Martinez was shot three times, then pulled from the vehicle, thrown face down onto the pavement by an ICE agent and handcuffed. Emergency personnel are not seen providing medical aid until roughly two minutes after the shots.
The Texas Department of Public Safety investigated the incident; 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’ account that Martinez was holding a bottle of Crown Royal whiskey, rolled toward an officer’s location, “rolled forward and made an immediate left turn,” and that an agent “appears to move as if he were on the vehicle’s hood.”
People at the scene raised questions about that version. Joshua Orta, Martinez’s best friend and a passenger in the car, provided a draft declaration saying Martinez “did not hit anyone” and was trying to comply with commands. Orta died in an unrelated car crash in February 2026 before signing the declaration.
DPS records include 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 a heavy law enforcement presence. Orta said Martinez became “jittery” and “panicked” when ordered to stop, and “out of reaction” applied the gas slightly so the car was “barely moving.” He said Martinez turned left and the vehicle moved only a short distance; an officer “got on the hood a little bit” after his feet may have gotten caught, but Orta did not believe Martinez actually struck the officer. He described hearing an officer yell “stop” and then gunshots.
A postmortem toxicology screen detected alcohol and marijuana. Martinez’s family lawyers say he was never stopped on suspicion of public intoxication or driving under the influence.
In the bodycam recording, Martinez’s car approaches an area with a heavy police presence about 21 minutes into the video. A voice is heard saying “keep going.” The vehicle moves forward and stops for pedestrians. Officers then shout commands such as “stop him” and “get him out” and rush the vehicle; three gunshots are heard. When the shots occur the rear of the car is visible and its brake lights are illuminated, and the vehicle appears to be stationary or moving very slowly.
After the shooting the car inches forward and then stops. Officers order Martinez and Orta out; the footage shows an ICE agent removing Martinez from the driver’s side and throwing him to the ground before applying restraints. Emergency responders arrive and render aid about two minutes after the shots; officers who pinned Martinez are not shown providing immediate medical assistance.
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 body-worn camera also captured a preliminary briefing to the South Padre Island police chief about 30 minutes after the incident, in which an officer said Martinez “stepped on it” and was “on top of the other agents in front” before being shot; that officer did not mention any injuries to officers on scene.
In her first television interview since her son’s death, Rachel Reyes said she has struggled to find closure because videos and reports were not shared with the family for nearly a year. Reyes has called for more transparency and for reforms in how immigration agents operate, saying she believes “something needs to be changed” to address what she described as a pattern of violence, abuse and impunity.