An American citizen was shot and killed by a federal agent last March, nearly a year before two Minneapolis residents died at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. 

Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was fatally shot in South Padre Island, Texas, on March 15, 2025, according to newly-released documents by the watchdog organization American Oversight, viewed by the Daily Mail and first reported by Newsweek. 

The 352-page release was published by American Oversight and included several ‘significant incident’ reports by ICE never before seen by the public. 

An incident report from last March revealed that an American citizen was shot by an ICE officer after allegedly striking an agent in a Blue Ford four-door vehicle.

Martinez was apparently driving the vehicle and came into contact with federal agents conducting immigration enforcement operations while working with the South Padre Island Police Department. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in the report that multiple officers gave commands for the vehicle to stop and surrounded the Blue Ford. 

‘The driver accelerated forward, striking a HSI special agent who wound up on on the hood of the vehicle,’ the incident report stated. 

One of the agents then discharged ‘multiple rounds at the driver through the open driver’s side window.’ 

Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, pictured above in an undated photo, was fatally shot by an ICE agent on March 15, 2025, according to newly released documents 

Rachel Reyes, pictured right, said that her son, Ruben Ray Martinez, pictured left, was a hardworking young man and disagreed with DHS’s characterization of his death 

DHS said Martinez struck a federal officer before he was shot and killed. His family has disputed that claim. Martinez is pictured on the far left in the above photo with family members  

Martinez was transported to a hospital in Brownsville and later pronounced dead. The incident report redacted his name but identified him as a US citizen. 

Local media covered the incident at the time as an ‘officer-involved shooting.’ Newsweek identified Martinez through the local coverage.

South Padre Island City Manager Randy Smith previously told local news outlets that officers were not the ones who fired their weapons.  

DHS confirmed the shooting in a statement, adding the Ford driver ‘intentionally ran over a Homeland Security Investigations special agent.’ 

‘Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public,’ the statement added. 

DHS added that the agent who was allegedly run over sustained a knee injury and was taken to the hospital.   

DHS said the Texas Department of Public Safety Ranger Division was investigating the incident. The Daily Mail has reached out to the department for an update. 

The department told Newsweek that the investigation is still active and that no other information is currently available.

Martinez’s death was reported on at the time as an ‘officer-involved shooting.’ It has now come to light that Martinez was the sole victim, and the officer was a federal agent 

Martinez’s death comes almost a year before two Minnesota residents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were fatally shot by ICE 

Martinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, confirmed to the New York Times that her son was the victim of the ICE-involved shooting. 

She disputed DHS’s account of events and characterized her son as a hardworking young man with no history of trouble with the law. 

‘He was a good kid. He doesn’t have a criminal history. He never got in trouble. He was never violent,’ Reyes said in a phone interview with the publication. 

Martinez’s family maintained that he was complying with instructions from law enforcement officials before he was shot.

Martinez’s mother said he had just celebrated his 23rd birthday when he was killed 

Reyes added that she didn’t ‘appreciate’ DHS’s characterization of her son and said the incident report made the events ‘sound different’ than what her family was initially told. 

‘What they’re saying is different from what they told the family, so that’s adding insult to injury,’ she said. 

Alex Stamm, the family’s attorney, told the New York Times that eyewitness accounts of the shooting were inconsistent with ICE’s internal report. 

The attorney demanded a ‘full and fair investigation’ and asked why federal officers were present at the scene of a traffic collision. 

Martinez’s family said in a statement to the Times: ‘Since Ruben’s death a year ago, all we have wanted is justice for him, and we have struggled with the silence surrounding his killing.

‘Now, the country is in crisis and, terribly, heartbreakingly, other families are enduring what we have.’

Martinez’s death was reported on by local news at the time as an ‘officer-involved shooting.’ Newly released documents have revealed that the incident involved federal agents at a traffic stop 

Reyes told the Associated Press that her son had just celebrated his 23rd birthday and had driven with a friend from San Antonio to South Padre Island to celebrate. 

She said Martinez worked at an Amazon warehouse, and liked playing video games and hanging out with his friends. 

‘He was a typical young guy. He never really got a chance to go out and experience things. It was his first time getting to go out of town. He was a nice guy, humble guy. And he wasn’t a violent person at all,’ Reyes added. 

She told the publication that she was informed her son was killed by a federal agent a week after his death. 

Martinez was from San Antonio and worked at an Amazon warehouse 

An investigator with the Rangers told Reyes that video footage contradicted ICE’s internal report and that the case would be presented to a grand jury for potential criminal charges. 

Federal officials have not publicly released any information on video evidence of the shooting. 

US Representative Joaquin Castro, who represents Martinez’s home city of San Antonio, has called for an investigation into the fatal shooting. 

Castro called the killing an ‘organized cover-up’ in a virtual news conference on Friday, as reported by Texas Public Radio. 

The newly-revealed incident report underscores months of heightened tensions between local officials and federal agents as DHS and ICE carry out immigration enforcement raids across the country. 

Minnesota mom-of-three, Renee Good, 37, was killed by an ICE agent named Jonathan Ross on January 7 in an eerily similar incident. 

She was in her vehicle while federal agents conducted immigration enforcement operations. 

As she drove away in her SUV, the agent opened fire, and she died from a gunshot injury to the head. 

DHS defended officers in the incident and even branded Good a ‘domestic terrorist,’ however, video footage of the shooting cast doubt on the Trump administration’s characterization of events. 

Alex Pretti, pictured above, was killed on January 24 after a confrontation with an ICE officer. Disturbing video footage captured the shooting and quickly went viral online 

The killings of two Minnesota residents launched a wave of protests across the country demanding that ICE agents scale back operations, with some even calling for the agency to be abolished. Pictured above are demonstrators in Utah two days after Pretti’s death 

The newly released documents suggest that ICE has killed more US citizens than originally believed. The agency has been under tense criticism with protests erupting across the country. Anti-ICE protesters in Austin, Texas are pictured above on January 30 

Geoffrey Alpert, a police use-of-force expert, told the Associated Press that both instances were unusual because federal officers are trained not to stand in front of a moving vehicle. 

‘You don’t stand in front of the car, you don’t put yourself in harm’s way,’ he explained. 

ICU nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, was killed on January 24 after a tense exchange with federal officers on the street. 

Witnesses and video footage show Pretti attempting to protect others from the agents before the violent encounter occurred. 

Similarly, DHS has defended the agents in the shooting, arguing that they were acting in self-defense because Pretti was carrying a gun. 

Martinez’s mother accused the federal agents in her son’s case of not giving him a chance, adding that their use of force was ‘excessive.’ 

‘They could have done anything else besides that. It’s like they shoot first and ask questions later,’ she added. 

Martinez’s death means at least six individuals have been killed by ICE since Trump assumed office last year, according to AP.