Newly Released Bodycam Video Shows Rapid Escalation Before Federal Agent Opens Fire [WATCH]

Newly released body camera footage and investigative records are providing the first detailed look at the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez by a federal immigration agent during an encounter in South Padre Island, Texas, on March 15, 2025.

The materials were released Friday following public records requests filed by The Associated Press and other news organizations.

The files include hours of video from officers’ body cameras along with investigative documents compiled by the Texas Rangers and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

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Martinez, a U.S. citizen from San Antonio, was shot during a late-night encounter with federal agents and local police officers at a busy intersection where authorities were directing traffic around a separate vehicle crash.

The Texas Rangers closed their investigation into the shooting after a grand jury declined to file criminal charges against Homeland Security Investigations Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens, the federal agent who fired the shots that killed Martinez.

Martinez’s death occurred early in President Donald Trump’s second term during a period of intensified federal immigration enforcement.

According to reporting cited in the investigative files, the case was the earliest of at least six fatal shootings involving federal agents during that enforcement effort.

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In a written statement provided to investigators nearly two months after the incident, Stevens said he believed the driver posed a threat to agents and the public.

Stevens wrote that he fired after Martinez “accelerated forward, striking Special Agent Sosa who wound up on the hood of the vehicle.”

The agent also stated that he feared the vehicle could be used as a weapon against officers and bystanders at the scene.

“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,” he continued.

“This path of movement, if left unmitigated, would, using the vehicle as a weapon, have resulted in numerous casualties.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security previously said the agent fired defensive shots after the driver “intentionally ran over” another agent, leaving that agent on the hood of the vehicle.

However, video footage released with the investigative records does not clearly show the vehicle striking an officer.

The footage captured from behind Martinez’s car shows the vehicle slowly approaching the intersection shortly after midnight.

At the time, South Padre Island police officers were directing traffic around a two-car collision.

Martinez had traveled to the beach city with his friend Joshua Orta for a night out after visiting the area with friends earlier that evening. According to investigative interviews, the pair had consumed alcohol and marijuana earlier in the night.

Body camera footage shows Martinez driving a blue Ford sedan as he approaches the intersection.

Vehicles were being directed to turn left to avoid the accident scene.

The video shows Martinez slowing down as pedestrians cross the street.

After they clear the crosswalk, the vehicle slowly rolls forward into the intersection before stopping again as federal agents approach.

Three Homeland Security Investigations agents assigned to a maritime border security task force were at the scene after being redirected to assist with immigration enforcement activities, according to documents in the investigative file.

One agent identified as Special Agent Hector Sosa moved toward the front of the car while Stevens approached on the driver’s side.

“Get him out, get him out,” one officer can be heard shouting in the body camera video.

As officers shouted commands for the driver to stop, the car began moving slowly forward while turning left toward the direction of other traffic.

Stevens was positioned beside the driver’s door and appeared to lean toward the open driver’s side window as the vehicle moved.

Within seconds, Stevens drew his weapon and fired three shots through the driver’s window.

“Shots fired, shots fired,” a police officer wearing a body camera can be heard shouting over the radio.

The entire encounter lasted about 15 seconds.

After the shots were fired, Martinez’s vehicle came to a stop.

Officers pulled him from the car and placed him in handcuffs while Orta was removed from the passenger seat and detained.

Martinez remained on the ground in handcuffs for about a minute before paramedics who were already at the intersection treating victims from the earlier crash began providing medical aid.

An autopsy later determined that all three bullets fired by Stevens struck Martinez.

The rounds entered through his left arm before passing into his torso and damaging his heart, lungs, liver, and other organs.

The autopsy also showed Martinez had a blood alcohol level of 0.12 percent, above Texas’s legal driving limit of 0.08 percent.

Investigative records also reference an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement review stating that Special Agent Sosa was treated at a nearby hospital for a knee injury following the encounter and later released.

Video released in the records shows the agent walking without a visible limp after the shooting while participating in the arrest of Orta.

Orta told investigators that Martinez had panicked after approaching the police scene and realizing officers were present.

“That’s when he panicked and turned the wheel, and he didn’t floor the gas but we kind of went a little bit and I guess they thought he was like trying to run the cop over or something,” Orta said.

He also described how the vehicle was moving slowly during the encounter.

“I saw the officer kind of get on the hood. Like he didn’t hit him, but like he kind of like, you know what I mean, caught his feet,” Orta said.

“It was just slowly moving and they started shooting.”

Orta died on Feb. 21 in a separate car accident in San Antonio.

Attorneys representing Martinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, said the footage and evidence raise questions about the circumstances of the shooting.

“This batch of evidence shows no justification for Ruben’s killing,” attorneys Charles M. Stam and Alex Stamm said in a statement.

“Still, our pursuit of full transparency will continue until we have all the facts. We, and the public, have yet to see all of the evidence held by the government.”

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