This fatal ICE shooting of a U.S. citizen occurred in the same region of Texas that the two agents who killed American nurse Alex Pretti are from.
[NYTimes] A Fatal ICE Shooting Occurred in Texas Months Before Renee Good’s Killing
𝘈 23-𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳-𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘗𝘢𝘥𝘳𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘐𝘊𝘌’𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬.
❝Months before Renee Good’s killing at the hands of an immigration agent in Minneapolis set off nationwide protests, a federal officer shot and killed another American citizen in his car in South Texas, according to internal reports made public this week.
The victim, Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was shot multiple times in South Padre Island by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer after he did not follow commands to exit his vehicle, according to internal ICE documents reviewed by The New York Times. ICE’s connection to the shooting was first reported by Newsweek this week.
The episode, which occurred around 12:40 a.m. on March 15, 2025, was reported by local media at the time as a shooting carried out by a law enforcement officer. It was not clear which agency was involved until the internal incident reports were made public this week.
The documents did not name the officers involved in the encounter, but the description of the victim matched that of Mr. Martinez. Charles Stam, a lawyer for the Martinez family, confirmed that his client was the victim mentioned in the ICE report.
Mr. Martinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, described her son as a hard-working young man who did not have a history of confronting law enforcement officials. In a phone interview, she said that her son was celebrating his birthday in South Padre Island with a friend he had known since elementary school when he was killed, five days after he turned 23. Ms. Reyes said her son worked at an Amazon warehouse in San Antonio.
“He was a good kid. He doesn’t have a criminal history,” she said, adding: “He never got in trouble. He was never violent.”
The ICE documents state that Homeland Security Investigation agents from Harlingen, Texas, were helping the South Padre Island Police Department control traffic near a car accident when a blue Ford approached the area.
Mr. Martinez initially did not follow officers’ instructions but eventually slowed to a stop after receiving verbal commands. Agents surrounded the vehicle and told him to get out of the car before Mr. Martinez accelerated and hit a federal agent who landed on the roof of the car, according to the documents. Another agent then fired multiple times through the driver’s side window. Mr. Martinez was transported to a hospital in Brownsville and later died.❞
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/us/ruben-ray-martinez-ice-shooting-texas.html?unlocked_article_code=1.N1A.quNj.k8goWzphv9lw&smid=url-share