Federal officers shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Texas during a traffic incident last year, but the incident was not initially disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security, according to a new report.
Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was shot and killed last March, the Associated Press reported. The news agency noted that the incident is the sixth, and earliest known, fatal shooting involving federal officers since the Trump administration's stepped-up immigration enforcement.
According to the AP, the shooting involved a Homeland Security Investigations team that was working with local police. The incident came to light following the release of documents requested by American Oversight, a nonprofit watchdog, through the Freedom of Information Act.
According to the website Border Report, federal authorities say the shooting happened after a federal agent was struck by a vehicle.
"On March 15, 2025, Homeland Security Investigation special agents were assisting the South Padre Island Police Department with traffic control after a major accident. A driver of a blue Ford intentionally ran over a Homeland Security Investigation special agent resulting in him being on the hood of the vehicle," a DHS spokesman told Border Report. "Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public. The driver was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased."
According to internal documents related to the incident, federal officers were assisting in directing traffic following an accident. When Martinez's vehicle approached, he was told to stop, but no reason was given for why officers chose to stop him.
The AP noted that the documents state that Martinez did stop, and the vehicle was then surrounded, and its occupants were told to get out. At that point, the vehicle accelerated forward, hitting an agent, and resulting in the shooting.
CBS News detailed that the federal officer was taken to a hospital with a knee injury and was treated and released.
"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," said his mother, Rachel Reyes in a statement to CBS News. "Now, the country is in crisis — and, terribly, heartbreakingly, other families are enduring what we have...It's my hope that attention being raised now into Ruben's death will help bring the justice we want for him and the answers we haven't had."
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