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23-year-old San Antonio resident Ruben Ray Martinez was killed last March, but it took a year to find out it was an ICE-involved shooting. Credit: Mission Park Funerals and Chapel Cemetary<\/p>\n23-year-old San Antonio resident Ruben Ray Martinez was killed last March, but it took a year to find out it was an ICE-involved shooting. Credit: Mission Park Funerals and Chapel Cemetary<\/p>\n
The sole passenger in the vehicle when a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed a San Antonio man nearly a year ago has died in an unrelated car crash, the New York Times reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n That passenger, Joshua Orta, 25 \u2014\u00a0who was killed Saturday in a San Antonio highway collision \u2014\u00a0had planned to contradict the federal government\u2019s account of the death of his childhood friend, Ruben Ray Martinez, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n Orta was in the passenger seat\u00a0on March 15, 2025, when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot Martinez, then 23, multiple times at the site of a South Padre Island crash site. Federal officials said the agent opened fire after Martinez refused to comply with commands and struck the agent with his car.<\/p>\n However, in a statement from Orta obtained by the Times, the San Antonio resident maintained that he and his friend made no attempt to resist and were actually trying to comply with officers\u2019 commands to turn the vehicle around when the ICE agent fired.<\/p>\n In the document reported on by the Times, Orta said traffic was backed up, allowing Martinez no room to turn around, adding that he never saw his friend strike the ICE agent. He said an officer \u201cseemed to be trying to get in front of the car,\u201d at which point officers drew their guns. <\/p>\n Shortly after, a federal agent fired \u201cmultiple shots\u201d through the open driver-side window, \u201cwithout giving any warning, commands or opportunity to comply,\u201d the Times reported of Orta\u2019s statement. <\/p>\n \u201cI heard Ruben say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry,\u2019 and then he slumped backward,\u201d Orta reportedly added.<\/p>\n Lawyers for Martinez\u2019s family took Orta\u2019s statement last September in preparation for future legal proceedings, according to the Times. Prior to his death, Orta reportedly planned to sign his statement and cooperate with investigators.<\/p>\n Orta died in a fiery collision around 1 a.m. on Saturday when he lost control of the vehicle he was driving and smashed into a utility pole, according to the Times. The car ignited and Orta died before the passengers, including a stepsister, were able to pull him from the wreckage, his stepfather told the newspaper.<\/p>\n While Martinez\u2019s shooting death was covered by local media when it occurred, there was no indication at the time that an ICE agent pulled the trigger. That detail only came to light last week after a watchdog group American Oversight made the official report public along with other documents related to ICE enforcement. <\/p>\n At that point, the Current and other publications reported on Martinez\u2019s death<\/a>, which appears to be first U.S. citizen killed by ICE agents since the start of the second Trump administration. The shooting deaths of Minnesota residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti earlier this year drew a national backlash against ICE and the White House\u2019s aggressive immigration crackdown. <\/p>\n Both San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat who represents the city, have called for congressional investigations<\/a> into Martinez\u2019s death. <\/p>\n \u201cIn normal times, I would call upon the appropriate departments to investigate this matter,\u201d Jones said in a statement released Saturday. \u201cHowever, we\u2019re not in normal times, and it\u2019s unclear any department-led investigations would be fairly executed, as evident by the delay in getting answers to this point. Therefore, our Congressional leaders must do their part in initiating an oversight investigation into the death of Ruben Ray Martinez.\u201d<\/p>\n For his part, Castro accused the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers for working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to orchestrate an \u201corganized coverup\u201d of the shooting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very unusual that for almost a year they would not disclose that an ICE agent shot and killed this person,\u201d the congressman said. <\/p>\n Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>| Twitter<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n
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