By MARK REAGAN, FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ, XAVIER ALVAREZ, ERIKA DE LOS REYES, OMAR ZAPATA, MONTSERRAT PAGAN and MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
MyRGV.com has obtained the case file into the shooting of a San Antonio man on South Padre Island last year by the Department of Homeland Security.
Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was shot and killed on March 15, 2025 by a federal immigration agent on South Padre Island during a traffic encounter.
The file includes reports, redacted emails, photos, video and many more files.
THE FILES
An incident report from the Texas Department of Wildlife reveals a game warden was working a two-vehicle crash that day at 11:20 p.m. on South Padre Island Boulevard and West Martin Street.
“Shortly after the ambulance crossed my location a blue 4 door passenger car approached our location. When the blue passenger car approached my location, the windows were closed, and it continued slowly passing me while I asked what it was doing,” the report stated. That vehicle came to a stop “at the feet of an unknown Homeland Security Investigations Agent (HSI 1).”
The report said that another HSI agent, identified as HSI 2, tried to open the driver’s door of the vehicle.
“The driver of the blue passenger car began to drive forward again and turn the vehicle to his left, East toward East Marlin St. At this time HSI Agent 1, who was in front of the car initially, appeared to be on the hood of the vehicle. HSI Agent 2 was walking backward and hopping along the driver side of the blue passenger car as it continued to travel forward, while yelling stop the car or stop the vehicle.
“Seconds later HSI Agent 2 drew his weapon and fired what sounded like 3 shots into the driver’s side window. I then saw HSI Agent 2 open the door and extracted the driver from the car. I witnessed another unknown police officer assist in handcuffing the driver. A female HSI Agent began to render medical aid from a pouch on her outer carrier vest.”
A forensic pathology report said Martinez, 23, died of “multiple gunshot wounds.” The pathologist ruled his manner of death as homicide.
That report says he was shot three times.
THE AGENT
An HSI report identified the agent who discharged his weapon as Group Supervisor Jack Stevens. The report, which was written by Stevens and emailed to Sgt. Patrick O’Connor with the Texas Rangers on May 5, 2025, shares his first-hand account of what transpired on the early morning of March 15, 2025.
Stevens recalled assisting the South Padre Island Police Department (SPIPD) with traffic control at around 12:40 a.m. at the intersection of Padre Boulevard and Marline Avenue, where a crash had just occurred.
“I observed a blue 4 door vehicle bypassing traffic controls and approaching an area where agents and local law enforcement were assisting with traffic control due to a major vehicle collision with injuries,” Stevens wrote. “A local law enforcement officer was frantically yelling what sounded like ‘stop them’ and ‘get him out’ while running in the direction of the vehicle.”
Stevens claims that as he approached the vehicle, he could smell “a strong and distinct odor of marijuana” coming from the open driver’s side window.
“The driver’s eyes were open widely, fist clenched to the steering wheel, and he was looking past the officers on scene as he failed to comply with the loud and repeated verbal commands of multiple law enforcement officers,” Stevens wrote. “This is a behavior I have observed in my training and experience as a pre attack indicator and sign of noncompliance as the suspect is looking in the path of their intended movement and is not indicative of compliance. This path of movement, if left unmitigated, would, using the vehicle as a weapon, have resulted in numerous casualties.”
He claims that the driver steered the vehicle towards the officers, pedestrians and oncoming traffic. He said that he was struck by the driver’s side front pillar and side mirror, which caused the mirror to break off.
The driver struck another HSI agent identified as Hector Sosa, according to the authorities’ narrative. He said that Sosa “wound up on the hood of the vehicle.”
“I immediately recognized the potential for death or serious bodily injury and feared for the safety and life of SA Sosa, myself, the local law enforcement officers immediately in the path of the vehicle, and the pedestrians present in the area traversing the crosswalks and sidewalks in the path of the vehicle,” Stevens wrote, adding that the Jan. 1, 2025 attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans was still fresh on his mind.
“Upon observing the vehicle strike SA Sosa causing him to fall onto the hood of the vehicle and driving through the scene, with SA Sosa clinging to the vehicle’s hood, I discharged my service issued handgun firing through the open driver’s side window striking the driver multiple times,” he wrote.
He then wrote that the driver of the vehicle, who is later identified as Ruben Martinez of San Antonio, stopped the vehicle and placed it in park.
“The driver was extracted from the vehicle and handcuffed with the assistance of the local law enforcement officers,” Stevens wrote. “After quickly checking the back seat of the vehicle for potentially injured persons, assessing SA Sosa and SA (Corianne) Stempien, and surveying the scene for safety I had the handcuffs removed from the suspect and began rendering first aid controlling the hemorrhaging, mitigating damages, and administering CPR in an attempt to preserve life until relieved by emergency medical services personnel.”
Paramedics who were already on scene for the car accident then took over and began administering first aid to Martinez, who was transported to Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville and pronounced dead.
The passenger, who was identified as Joshua Orta, was taken into custody by SPIPD.
Sosa was taken to a nearby hospital to treat a knee injury and was later discharged. Stevens was also taken to a local hospital and discharged as well.
Stevens ended his report by justifying his use of force, saying that it was his only option for protecting the lives of the other officers and pedestrians on scene.
“No available less than lethal options would have been effective to stop the threat in this
Scenario,” Stevens wrote. “I reasonably believed the use of deadly force was immediately necessary to protect others and myself from an imminent threat of unlawful force that would have resulted in death or serious bodily injuries.”
THE PASSENGER
Joshua Orta gave a statement to two Texas Rangers, including Sgt. O’Connor, and an SPIPD officer, who identified himself as Det. Dominguez, at 4:47 a.m. the night of the shooting.
Video of the statement shows Orta giving his account of what occurred that evening, initially telling authorities that Martinez had recently turned 23 and that the both of them had, among other things, spent the night with friends, driving around “looking for clubs,” and drinking shots and beer — around three or four, he said.
Orta characterized Martinez’s demeanor as panicked, not knowing what to do when being given verbal commands, and drove straight toward an agent who was standing in front of them rather than moving right, where authorities tried directing him.
“I know him, that’s like my brother from day one, he’s like hesitant … he gets hesitant and he gets scared, but I know he did not mean to hurt an officer or mean to like hit an officer — he would not do that,” Orta, who said he tried getting Martinez to calm down, told the Rangers. “That’s when the car started moving again, slowly like he didn’t floor it or nothing, it was just slowly moving. And they started shooting.”
This happened after Martinez and Orta left a nearby Whataburger and began driving on South Padre Boulevard.
When Martinez and Orta approached the area near the crash, Orta told the Rangers that one of the authorities on the scene told them “to just turn,” but that “another officer behind him ran up and said ‘no, no, no, get out the car, tell him to get out of the car.’”
“And I was just thinking like damn, he’s probably going to get a ticket for DWI. … That’s when he (Martinez) panicked and turned the wheel,” Orta said. “He didn’t floor the gas but kind of went a little bit, and I guess they thought he was trying to run the cop over or something, and they shot him.
Orta identified the shooter as the agent who was on the passenger side of the vehicle, and while gesturing in a climbing manner described another agent as “the one that was getting like, you know, on the vehicle, he didn’t pull out a gun at all.”
The Associated Press reported that Orta was killed Saturday, Feb. 21, in a fiery car crash in San Antonio.
The January shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minnesota, American citizens killed by federal immigrant agents, prompted concern from across the country, including Democrats and Republicans critical of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s aggressive deportation tactics, with specific criticism centering on failures to deescalate and giving confusing verbal commands.
THE FOOTAGE
In a file titled “INCREDIBLE_RIDES,” the blue vehicle driven by Martinez can be seen at approximately 11:31. The driver can be seen speaking to a game warden and a police officer.
They appear to direct the driver to move forward. The car accelerates briefly before coming to a stop at an intersection.
An officer can be seen running toward the vehicle, but other officers do not appear concerned.
View of the vehicle is obscured by a sign for Incredible Rides, however another law enforcement officer can be seen approaching the vehicle.
Another video taken from police bodycam footage shows the blue vehicle driving towards the intersection. A voice can be heard yelling, “Hey, what are you doing? Don’t you see us here with the lights on? Pull over right there. Hey, keep going, keep going, keep going.”
The vehicle can then be seen at the 20:57 mark driving towards the intersection. Another voice is then heard saying, “Tell him to stop. Hold him. Hold him.”
Another voice says, “Stop him,” repeatedly, and “Get him out.”
The police officer can be seen running towards the vehicle, which appears to be at a complete stop at the intersection, where an agent can be seen standing by the driver’s side window. The vehicle then starts turning towards its left, and three shots are heard. Another voice is then heard yelling, “Stop the fucking vehicle.”
The officer can be heard calling in the shooting, repeating, “Shots fired.”
The agent can be seen with his gun drawn and aimed at the vehicle. The officer yells, “Get out of the vehicle now.”
The vehicle comes to a complete stop, and the agent with the gun drawn approaches the vehicle, opens the door, and pulls the driver out.
The driver is seen lying on his side, and the agent is seen briefly with his knee on his back before another officer approaches.
The officer is heard saying, “2300, shots fired, shots fired. One in custody.”
Someone asks if there is need for another ambulance, to which the officer says yes.
He can then be seen walking around the vehicle towards the passenger side. The passenger is already out and leaning on the back of the vehicle while another agent appears to be searching him. The inside of the vehicle can be seen briefly. The agent who pulled the trigger can be seen approaching the passenger.
The officer walks back towards the driver. Police officers are seen placing handcuffs on his wrists. The agent is seen returning to where the driver is laying and turning him onto his back.
Paramedics can be seen approaching with a gurney. The agent can be seen on his knees by the driver and beginning to render aid.
THE FORENSICS
According to a Cameron County forensic pathology report, Martinez suffered from seven gunshot defects caused by three bullets.
The first bullet projectile shot through the upper left arm and then into his chest area, passing through his stomach, liver and right hemidiaphragm before ending in his right ribs.
The second bullet was similar to the first but went through his forearm and passed through his chest area and left ribs, and embedded into soft tissue of the lateral right chest.
A third bullet entered the left side of his upper back area with no exit wound. The projectile passed through the left rib, lower lobe of the left lung, left atrium of the heart, middle lobe of the right lung, right hemidiaphragm, and the dome of the liver before passing between his right ribs and became embedded in soft tissue of the lateral right chest.
In addition to high traces of marijuana in Martinez’s system, a toxicology report also found his blood alcohol concentration at 0.124%, nearly double the legal driving limit in most of the U.S., which is 0.08%.
He also had traces of alprazolam (Xanax), although the levels were not high and its amount was akin to a treatment dose, according to the report, which further indicated he was driving impaired due to the combination of the three substances.
Editor’s note: This story and its headline, previously “MyRGV.com obtains case file of DHS shooting of San Antonio man on SPI,” have been updated with the full version and to reflect new information.
Immigration agent who shot, killed San Antonio man on SPI no-billed
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