{"id":487654,"date":"2026-02-24T13:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/487654\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T13:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:12:09","slug":"witness-in-texas-immigration-shooting-case-dies-in-car-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/487654\/","title":{"rendered":"Witness in Texas immigration shooting case dies in car crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The passenger in the car when Texas driver Ruben Ray Martinez was fatally shot last year<\/a> by a federal immigration agent gave a lengthy statement to lawyers for the slain man\u2019s family disputing the government\u2019s version of events.<\/p>\n

That witness died Saturday in a fiery car crash in San Antonio, according to a lawyer for Martinez\u2019s family. <\/p>\n

Joshua Orta rode with Martinez on a Spring Break trip last March when they came upon a group of local police and federal agents directing traffic around an accident at a busy intersection. In a statement issued Friday, the Department of Homeland Security alleged that Martinez \u201cintentionally ran over a Homeland Security Investigation special agent,\u201d thereby causing another agent to fire \u201cdefensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Associated Press and other media outlets reported last week on details of Martinez\u2019s death<\/a>, which would mark at least six deadly shootings by federal officers since President Donald Trump\u2019s coast-to-coast immigration crackdown. DHS made no public disclosure for 11 months that one of its agents pulled the trigger. <\/p>\n

According to the draft affidavit prepared following interviews in September, Orta reportedly said that Martinez did not hit an officer with his vehicle, that their car was \u201cjust crawling as we were trying to turn around\u201d and that a federal agent fired into the driver\u2019s side window from about two feet away without \u201cgiving any warning, commands, or opportunity to comply.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Antonio Police said a 25-year-old man was killed Saturday when he drove into a curved highway exit at a high rate of speed before losing control and slamming into a utility pole. Passengers were able to escape as the vehicle caught fire, but they were unable to pull out the driver.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Rachel Reyes, Martinez\u2019s mother, said Orta was the man who was killed in the car accident. The draft affidavit indicated Martinez\u2019s family is preparing to file a wrongful death lawsuit in the earlier shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, Joshua\u2019s death is an awful tragedy for his family and friends,\u201d said Alex Stamm, one of the lawyers representing the family. \u201cIn terms of Ruben\u2019s death, the world has also now lost a critical eyewitness.\u201d<\/p>\n

DHS on Monday said: \u201cWe stand by our original statement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texas Rangers confirmed last week they are investigating Martinez\u2019s shooting. The agency did not respond to questions Monday about whether they had interviewed Orta prior to his death. <\/p>\n

Orta\u2019s account contradicts DHS<\/p>\n

Orta and Martinez decided to take a spontaneous trip to Texas\u2019 South Padre Island to meet up with friends, according to Orta\u2019s draft affidavit. After hanging out in a condo and having a \u201cfew drinks,\u201d then a pool party and a trip to Whataburger, they arrived at the scene of an accident and slowed the car down, Orta said.<\/p>\n

A local police officer approached their car, saw an open alcohol container in the back, but told the two young men to turn around and leave, he said. As they tried to turn in the traffic, another officer walked up to their car and slapped the hood and \u201cseemed to be trying to get in front of the car,\u201d said Orta.<\/p>\n

Martinez \u201cdid not hit anyone,\u201d Orta said.<\/p>\n

Then several more officers surrounded their vehicle, yelling at them to stop and drawing their guns, Orta recounted. \u201cThis was crazy to me because we were only crawling,\u201d he said, adding that Martinez never hit the gas and the officers weren\u2019t in any danger.<\/p>\n

An officer standing by Martinez\u2019s open driver\u2019s side window then pulled his weapon and fired without warning, so close the bullet casings ejected from his weapon landed inside the vehicle, he said.<\/p>\n

Orta recounted hearing his friend say \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d as he slumped backward unconscious after being stuck in the chest. He said agents then pulled Martinez from the car and handcuffed him, waiting at least 10 minutes before providing any medical aid.<\/p>\n

Reyes, Martinez\u2019s mother, told AP last week her son was shot three times. She also said an investigator from the Texas Rangers had obtained videos of the shooting that she said undercut DHS\u2019s claim her son tried to run over the agent.<\/p>\n

Similarities to other shootings<\/p>\n

According to an internal incident report from Immigration and Customs Law Enforcement that was released earlier this month after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the HSI agents involved in the shooting were part of a maritime border enforcement security task force typically focused on combating transnational criminal organizations at seaports. Over the past year, however, officers from across multiple federal agencies have been reassigned to prioritize immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

In January, Renee Good<\/a>, a 37-year-old mother in Minneapolis, was killed in the driver\u2019s seat of her SUV by an ICE officer. Trump administration officials initially attempted to paint Good as a \u201cdomestic terrorist\u201d who tried to ram officers with her vehicle before multiple videos emerged<\/a> of the incident that cast doubt on the government\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement officers are typically trained not to step in front of vehicles<\/a> due to the danger they might be struck. Like Good, Martinez had no criminal record.<\/p>\n

Stamm, the family\u2019s lawyer, said Orta\u2019s account confirmed Martinez\u2019s car was barely moving before the HSI officer opened fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe also told us unequivocally that Ruben did not hit anyone,\u201d Stamm said. \u201cWe believe Joshua\u2019s account, and, as we have seen recently in Minneapolis, Chicago, and elsewhere, it is critical that the public be shown every piece of evidence in the government\u2019s possession, and that any witness come forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Bedayn reported from Denver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The passenger in the car when Texas driver Ruben Ray Martinez was fatally shot last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1686,224050,23,2724,1308,12,793,7922,790,224049,4381,3,111,224051,191965,224048,4382,1022,1059,3770,795,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-487654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-accidents","9":"tag-alex-stamm","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-associated-press","12":"tag-automotive-accidents","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-gun-violence","16":"tag-immigration","17":"tag-joshua-orta","18":"tag-law-enforcement","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-rachel-reyes","22":"tag-renee-good","23":"tag-ruben-ray-martinez","24":"tag-shootings","25":"tag-texas","26":"tag-tx-state-wire","27":"tag-u-s-department-of-homeland-security","28":"tag-u-s-news","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-united-states-of-america","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","33":"tag-us","34":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}