How a DHS shooting of a third U.S. citizen went unnoticed for months

"After the Texas Ranger knocked on her door and delivered the numbing news, Rachel Reyes realized she hadn't thought to ask who shot her son. She figured it had been another Ranger that killed Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, after he allegedly failed to comply with a law enforcement officer's orders. But a week later, Reyes read an article from a local news outlet in South Padre Island that confused her."

"South Padre Island Police put out a press release on Martinez but did not identify the agency responsible for his death. A two-sentence police report described Martinez striking a federal agent with his vehicle but did not mention the shooting that allegedly happened a moment later. Texas officials, citing their ongoing investigation, declined to release footage of the incident."

"DHS did not publicly acknowledge that one of its agents had fatally shot Martinez until last month, when a lawsuit over a year-old public records request unearthed an internal narrative of the shooting by a Homeland Security Investigations agent."

Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by a Department of Homeland Security agent assigned to immigration enforcement in South Padre Island, Texas on March 15, 2025. His mother, Rachel Reyes, initially believed a Texas Ranger had killed her son but discovered through news reports that a separate unnamed federal agency was responsible. South Padre Island Police issued a press release but did not identify the responsible agency, and their report mentioned Martinez striking a federal agent with his vehicle without detailing the shooting. Texas officials withheld incident footage citing an ongoing investigation. DHS did not publicly acknowledge the shooting until over a year later when a lawsuit over a public records request by American Oversight revealed an internal narrative from a Homeland Security Investigations agent.

Read at The Washington Post