American citizen, 23, was shot and killed by ICE agent nearly a year BEFORE Renee Good and Alex Pretti... and it was 'kept quiet' until now
By Sophie Gable
Daily Mail
Feb 20, 2026
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
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 4-door vehicle.
Martinez was allegedly driving the vehicle and came in contact with federal agents conducting immigration enforcement operations while working with the South Padre Island Police Department.
The Department of Homeland Security 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 upon 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.'
Renee Good, pictured above in an undated photo, was killed on January 7 by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Alex Pretti, a registered nurse and American citizen, was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 25
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 coverage at the time.
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.
Rachel Reyes, pictured right, told the New York Times that her son, Ruben Ray Martinez, pictured left, was a hardworking young man and disagreed with DHS's characterization of his death
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.
Martinez's family maintained that he was complying with instructions from law enforcement officials before he was shot.
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.'
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.
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