Newsweek has obtained police body-worn camera footage, photos, and new statements that shed new light on the moments a U.S. citizen was fatally shot by a federal immigration agent in Texas almost one year ago.
Over 160 pieces of evidence tied to Ruben Ray Martinez’s death by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent were released by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), following Newsweek’s public records request for further documents on the 23-year-old’s death in South Padre Island on March 15, 2025.
The footage includes various angles of the moment Martinez allegedly accelerated toward an ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent, prompting another to fire three fatal shots through his driver-side window, as well as footage of federal agents attempting to save the man’s life.
Written statements, meanwhile, matched accounts given in previously reported documents related to the case, including from Martinez’s passenger that night—his childhood friend Joshua Orta—who died in a car crash in February. Orta was seen in one newly revealed video giving an interview to local law enforcement, during which he learned that his friend had died.
“He didn’t know what to do, like he definitely didn’t want to go to jail,” Orta said of his friend. “But as far as, like, running over an officer in danger, he wouldn’t do that.”
Newsweek first reported that ICE agents were linked to Martinez’s death following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by American Oversight for documents on use of force incidents in February and March last year.
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for further comment on the case on Friday morning.
What New Evidence Tells Us About Ruben Ray Martinez’s Death
While federal agents were not wearing body cameras that night, local police officers were, and this is the first time the public has been able to see what happened.
The footage starts around the time officers arrived on the scene of a car accident just before midnight on March 14. Martinez and Orta are seen arriving on the scene in their blue car just after midnight, and federal agents are seen around that vehicle around the time of the shooting. Footage also showed officers debriefing afterward.
Body‑worn camera footage from a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officer shows another angle of the encounter, with the officer shouting, “Where are you going?” as Martinez’s car drives past and then, “Hey, stop him!” but it’s unclear from this footage if Martinez hits an officer with the vehicle.
More bodycam footage from the South Padre Island Police Department (SPIPD) also captures the moments officers and agents tried to stop the vehicle the two men were in. An officer can be heard shouting, “Stop him. Stop him, stop him, stop him. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out!
“Stop the f***ing vehicle,” one officer can be heard saying. Seconds later gun shots ring out.
In a written statement, the agent Newsweek first identified as Jack Stevens, who fired the fatal shots, detailed what happened next.
He said that Martinez’s car continued toward officers, pedestrians and oncoming traffic, and that the car struck him on his left side, knocking him backward. The car then struck Agent Hector Sosa.
“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 recent events where a car had been used to ram pedestrians were 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.”
A man who Newsweek understands to be HSI Agent Jack Stevens appears to pull Martinez out of the vehicle in footage captured after this moment by a SPIPD officer. That footage shows officers, federal agents and paramedics responding to the scene.
Officer Lee Cortez approaches a group of agents gathered near the vehicle before the body of Martinez can be seen lying on the ground. Another HSI ICE officer is seen assisting as several agents and emergency responders begin providing medical aid.
“I then observed a male subject on the ground, faced up, just outside near the driver’s side of the vehicle with several officers and Homeland Security Investigations Agents around working on him applying first aid and casualty care in attempt to resuscitate the male,” Emmanuel Salinas, who responded with Cortez, wrote in a police report.
At one point, Stevens instructs another officer to remove Martinez’s handcuffs while efforts to help him continue. Martinez is then lifted onto a stretcher as agents and medical staff attempt to resuscitate him while paramedics continue treatment.
“In the unstable and rapidly evolving scene the only available means of mitigating the potential damages and preserving the lives of the public and officers was to neutralize the driver of the vehicle,” Stevens wrote. “No available less than lethal options would have been effective to stop the threat in this scenario.”
No body‑worn camera footage from the HSI ICE agents involved has been released, and it remains unclear whether any such footage even exists. Newsweek’s reporting on internal records obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests and public records requests found no listing of HSI bodycam video in the Texas DPS’ files.
Orta Is Told His Friend Is Dead
Also clearly seen in video footage released to Newsweek was Orta, 25, who was the only known civilian witness to the events leading up to his friend’s death.
Officer reports also detail his presence in the vehicle, the alleged smell of marijuana when his passenger door was opened, and the moment he was arrested by the police. Evidence logs included references to a plastic bag with alleged marijuana inside, along with a can allegedly being used as an ashtray for the drug.
At one point, Orta is seen handcuffed and lying on the ground, asking an officer, “Did I do anything wrong?”
In the recorded interview with Texas Rangers, Orta is informed by investigators that Martinez has died. He said Martinez was “hesitant” and “scared” during the encounter with federal agents.
Orta detailed the sequence of events to officers, saying Martinez “did not mean to hurt an officer,” adding that the car had been moving slowly at the time.
“It didn’t floor it or nothing. It was just slowly moving, and they started shooting,” Orta told Texas Rangers around 4:47 a.m.
Official incident reports from ICE, the DPS, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and the South Padre Island Police Department say that Martinez’s vehicle struck HSI agent Hector Sosa, causing him to land on the hood. Another HSI ICE agent, Jack Stevens then fired multiple rounds through the driver’s‑side window, resulting in Martinez’s death, according to several internal agency reports.
His description of the events aligns with a witness statement previously reported by Newsweek, which was written in September 2025. Orta also told investigators that he and Martinez had been drinking earlier that night, and that this may have made him nervous.
When the shots rang out, Orta said he had looked straight ahead and heard his friend’s words grow softer, before he was pulled from the vehicle and agents began trying to give him medical aid.
Orta had been working with the Martinez family legal team and planned to sign a sworn written statement which contradicted DHS’ version of events before he died in an unrelated “fiery car crash” last month, attorneys previously said.
Federal Agents Debrief With Local Police
Body-worn camera footage also showed a group of federal agents debriefing with local police in the hours after the fatal shooting. Newsweek understands that Sosa, the agent hit by Martinez’s vehicle, is one of the agents speaking.
“The guy was creeping up, and I was like ‘stop!’… then he just kept creeping, creeping, creeping, creeping. Finally he gets to me, and I was like, ‘Alright, so you’re stopping, right?’ and he was like [acceleration sounds], and it’s like, you mother f****r,” the agent is heard saying.
The agent then described landing on top of the vehicle, but that he did not fire his weapon out of fear of hitting something he shouldn’t.
While ICE and police accounts detailed Sosa was hit by the vehicle, he did not slide to the ground but instead hung on to the hood.
The agent, believed to be Jack Stevens, approached the group and said that Sosa should be checked out by medics. In his own written statement, Sosa said he was taken to hospital for a knee injury but was later released.
Newsweek has asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) if any injuries were reported.
A Texas grand jury declined to indict Stevens over Martinez’s death, after evidence was presented by prosecutors. Martinez’s family and attorneys have told Newsweek that they still have questions over why ICE’s connection to the man’s death went unreported for almost a year. Democrats in Congress have accused DHS of a cover-up, and called for further investigation.
