{"id":182571,"date":"2026-02-27T06:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/182571\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T06:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:10:08","slug":"family-friends-honor-man-killed-in-high-speed-crash-who-witnessed-deadly-ice-shooting-of-san-antonio-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/182571\/","title":{"rendered":"Family, friends honor man killed in high-speed crash who witnessed deadly ICE shooting of San Antonio man"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Friends and family members of 25-year-old Joshua Orta gathered to remember him Thursday night after he died in a high-speed crash near downtown<\/a> San Antonio early Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

He was the passenger in the vehicle when 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez was shot by federal immigration agents during a traffic stop on South Padre Island last March. Orta provided testimony that contradicted police reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Orta\u2019s sister, Starleen Arriaga, described him as \u201cgenuine\u201d and said he cared deeply about everyone who was in his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so giving, so humble, so kind,\u201d Arriaga said, \u201cand made sure everyone around him was taken care of all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Police Department said the driver, later identified as Orta, lost control of his vehicle on the Interstate 35 frontage road, near Powell Street, and crashed into a utility pole.<\/p>\n

The crash happened around 1 a.m. Saturday in the 2400 block of Interstate 35 frontage road, near Powell Street. (Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Arriaga said she was one of several passengers in the vehicle at the time of the Saturday morning crash. Police said they exited the vehicle and attempted to rescue Orta, but those attempts proved unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Arriaga said Orta and Martinez were best friends, almost like brothers.<\/p>\n

The sentiment was echoed Thursday by the attorney for Martinez\u2019s mother, Rachel Reyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cRuben\u2019s mom loved Joshua almost like a son,\u201d attorney Butch Hayes said. \u201cHe grew up in her house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orta\u2019s loved ones said the shooting of Martinez took a toll on him, and he had a hard time coping with what he saw.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat changed him so much,\u201d Arriaga said. \u201cThat was his best friend, that was his brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe saw stuff that he was not supposed to see,\u201d Arriaga continued. \u201cNobody \u2014 it doesn\u2019t matter how old you are \u2014 it\u2019s not something you should witness.”<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came back (from South Padre Island), and that was not my brother anymore,\u201d Arriaga said.<\/p>\n

Arriaga said it was heartbreaking for her family to learn that a grand jury declined charges in the deadly shooting<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Orta\u2019s testimony conflicts with key details of police report, attorney says<\/p>\n

Martinez was shot and killed by a Homeland Security Investigations special agent during a traffic stop last March, according to internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told KSAT that Martinez attempted to run over one of the agents performing the stop, prompting a second agent to open fire.<\/p>\n

However, Orta said Martinez did not hit anyone before he was shot and killed by officers, according to the attorneys representing Martinez\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

The special agents were assisting the South Padre Island Police Department in directing traffic after a major crash on March 15, 2025, according to the documents and statement from ICE.<\/p>\n

Homeland Security special agents were redirecting traffic just after midnight, the report states, and failed to follow the instructions of agents.<\/p>\n

However, Hayes said Orta witnessed Martinez slowly turning the vehicle around, as requested by an officer, and told attorneys that Martinez\u2019s foot was not on the gas.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was doing one of these very slow turns,\u201d Hayes said, \u201cand it is sort of reminiscent of the turn that Renee Good made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayes and the ICE report said multiple rounds were then fired at Martinez through the open driver\u2019s side window.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was shot at point-blank (range),\u201d Hayes said. \u201cThree shots, (fired) no more than two feet (away).\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security described the shots as \u201cdefensive,\u201d saying that an agent was hit by Martinez, who wound up on the hood of the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Hayes also said there is no video capturing the officer being hit or ending up on the hood of the vehicle, to his knowledge.<\/p>\n

However, Orta said Martinez did not hit anyone, according to the attorney, and that a person walked up and banged on the hood of the vehicle. Orta alleged it was this officer who fired the shots at Martinez.<\/p>\n

Orta also said that there were only five seconds between when the officer banged on the hood of the vehicle and when shots were fired, according to Hayes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I understand from Joshua was that the very last thing Ruben did in his life was to ensure the car was fully stopped,\u201d Hayes said, \u201cand he said, \u2018I\u2019m sorry, sir.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayes said an agent then pulled Martinez out of the car, put him face down on the ground and placed him in handcuffs. <\/p>\n

The report said agents rendered aid to Martinez, but Hayes said it took five to ten minutes after he was handcuffed before providing aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Ruben is lying on the ground there, face down with coughs, perhaps having already passed, he\u2019s bleeding and no one\u2019s doing anything about it,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n

Martinez was later taken to a Brownsville hospital, where he was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed the Texas Rangers\u2019 investigation was completed. KSAT requested the report but has not yet heard back.<\/p>\n

After Martinez was shot, Hayes said Orta was placed in another vehicle by an officer, though he was unsure which agency they worked for, and left there for six to seven hours.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Friends and family members of 25-year-old Joshua Orta gathered to remember him Thursday night after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[18397,1829,71294,69993,82,84,83,95,9040,27],"class_list":{"0":"post-182571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-hsi","9":"tag-ice","10":"tag-joshua-orta","11":"tag-ruben-ray-martinez","12":"tag-san-antonio","13":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","14":"tag-san-antonio-news","15":"tag-shooting","16":"tag-south-padre-island","17":"tag-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}