When Rachel Reyes thinks back to her son’s final days, she remembers how excited he was for the year ahead. Ruben Ray Martinez had just turned 23 and planned to enroll in trade school to become a mechanic. He was ready to move out of the family’s San Antonio home and had found an apartment he liked.
On March 15, 2025, Martinez, a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed during a traffic encounter in south Texas by an agent who later was identified as working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Trace, a site that tracks gun violence, lists Martinez as the first of at least six people killed by immigration agents since the start of President Trump’s second term.
Martinez’s death and the details surrounding it have been a source of heartbreak and confusion for his mother. Reyes says she has always respected law enforcement, making the discovery that an ICE agent was involved especially painful. “It’s like a constant state of unrest,” she said. “There was no peace and I still don’t have peace.”
ICE’s role was not disclosed to the family or the public until a watchdog group, American Oversight, made a public records request seeking documents about ICE’s use of force. Among the records was an ICE incident report saying Martinez accelerated his car and struck a federal agent, prompting another officer to fire in self-defense. That account contrasts with body-camera footage released later by the Texas Department of Public Safety and with witness statements.
The footage, taken by officers at the scene where multiple agencies responded to an earlier crash, shows a chaotic scene lasting less than 30 seconds. One body camera shows an officer signaling Martinez to pull over; another officer later says, “keep going.” Martinez’s car moves slowly forward as two officers approach the front of the vehicle. The video then captures three shots in quick succession. From the videos NPR reviewed, it is unclear whether Martinez’s vehicle struck any officer.
According to police reports, the agent who fired was Homeland Security Investigations Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens. In a written statement to investigators, Stevens said he acted in self-defense after seeing fellow agent Hector Sosa “fall onto the hood of the vehicle.” Sosa later reported a knee injury in his written statement. How Sosa came into contact with Martinez’s car is not clear from the footage.
Joshua Orta, Martinez’s friend and passenger that night, described Martinez as confused because multiple officers were yelling conflicting instructions. In a DPS-released interview, Orta said Martinez was “panicky” and worried about getting in trouble for driving while intoxicated. Orta told investigators the car was “barely moving” and said an officer “kind of like get on the hood.” He said Martinez “didn’t necessarily hit him, but like, it kind of like, you know what I mean, caught his feet.”
Before Orta died in an unrelated car crash in February, he provided a written statement to Reyes’ lawyer that was later shared with NPR. In it he wrote, “Ruben did not hit anyone,” and said an agent approached the front of the car and slapped the hood. “Without giving any warning, commands, or opportunity to comply, the agent fired multiple shots at Ruben from an extremely close distance — no more than two feet. I heard Ruben say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and then he slumped backward.”
The day after the shooting, a Texas Ranger told Reyes her son had been fatally shot by an officer but did not disclose that the officer worked for ICE. The lack of transparency has prompted calls for answers. In late February, a Texas grand jury declined to indict Stevens. ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, told NPR, “We stand by the grand jury’s unanimous decision that found no criminality. This incident was investigated from every possible angle by an independent body, and it cleared our officer.”
Democratic U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia of California and Greg Casar of Texas have called for an independent investigation into the shooting and why ICE’s involvement was not shared sooner. Reyes’ attorney, Charles Stam, said his team is exploring legal options and believes federal agents escalated the situation by standing in front of Martinez’s car. “I think what we’ve seen is an unwillingness to admit mistakes,” Stam said.
The Department of Homeland Security allows immigration agents to use deadly force when there is a “reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent threat,” but its policy advises agents to “avoid intentionally and unreasonably placing themselves in positions in which they have no alternative to using deadly force.”
For Reyes, the loss is intensely personal. She remembers Ruben as shy at first but goofy and thoughtful, someone who loved feeding stray cats and fixing things. He was close to his siblings and nephew and, she believed, would have made a good father. Small details—his laughter across the hall, the smell of French toast and eggs he was learning to make—are now absent from daily life.
She found the nights after the shooting especially hard. Martinez had told her he planned a one-night trip to South Padre Island with a friend and promised to be home the next day. Instead, Reyes received his urn. On what would have been his 24th birthday and the anniversary of his death, the family kept a tradition of going out to dinner and saved a seat for him.
Reyes said she still struggles with the way the incident was handled and with unanswered questions about what really happened that night. Authorities’ differing accounts, the delayed disclosure of ICE’s role and the grand jury’s decision have all compounded her grief. Her attorney says there has been no meaningful accountability or investigation that satisfies the family.
As calls for independent review continue, Reyes says she wants clarity and accountability more than anything else. She remembers her son as someone who spoke with enthusiasm about the future: “He thought he’d have more time,” she said. “We all thought he would have more time.”