{"id":604942,"date":"2026-02-21T03:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/604942\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T03:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:50:18","slug":"san-antonio-man-shot-killed-by-hsi-agents-last-march-report-shows-rep-castro-calls-for-accountability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/604942\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio man shot, killed by HSI agents last March, report shows; Rep. Castro calls for accountability"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO<\/strong> \u2013 New details are coming to light about a 23-year-old San Antonio man who was killed after a shooting involving Homeland Security special agents last year on South Padre Island.<\/p>\n

Ruben Ray Martinez died at a hospital after the shooting on March 15, 2025<\/a>, the Texas Department of Public Safety told KRGV, but it was never publicly confirmed how he was killed or who killed him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The investigation by the Texas Rangers remains ongoing, according to the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

However, internal documents obtained by nonprofit American Oversight show the department knew an HSI special agent shot Martinez as early as March 17.<\/p>\n

According to the Significant Incident Report obtained by American Oversight through an open records request, the special agent discharged \u201cmultiple rounds\u201d at Martinez, who was later described as \u201chit by the discharged rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

KSAT has not independently obtained the report. According to its website, American Oversight<\/a> is a nonpartisan organization focused on government transparency.<\/p>\n

According to a DHS spokesperson, HSI investigators were assisting the South Padre Island Police Department with traffic control after a \u201cmajor accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Martinez then stopped his vehicle at the instruction of multiple agents, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Agents then surrounded the vehicle and ordered him to exit, the report said, but Martinez drove forward and struck an agent, who wound up on the hood of the vehicle.<\/p>\n

The agent was taken to a local hospital for a knee injury and was later released.<\/p>\n

After Martinez hit the agent, another special agent then began firing \u201cmultiple rounds at the driver through the open driver\u2019s side window.\u201d<\/p>\n

A DPS spokesperson described these as \u201cdefensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public,\u201d but the department still has not publicly identified whether the bullets hit Martinez and whether it was the cause of his death.<\/p>\n

Medical aid was rendered to Martinez by HSI agents and paramedics already on the scene, the report states, before he was transported to a Brownsville hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

Martinez and the passenger in his vehicle were U.S. citizens, according to the report.<\/p>\n

In a news conference Friday, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said the lack of information made public makes it \u201clook like it was an organized cover-up of the shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castro said he will reach out to Martinez\u2019s family to offer his office\u2019s support, as well as ask the Department of Justice and congressional committees to investigate.<\/p>\n

The shooting was one of 67 reported uses of force by Homeland Security within the first two months of Trump\u2019s term<\/a>, according to emails in the records request, first reported by POLITICO.<\/p>\n

KSAT has reached out to the Texas Department of Public Safety for more information regarding its investigation.<\/p>\n

Read more <\/b>immigration<\/b><\/a> coverage on KSAT:<\/b><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 New details are coming to light about a 23-year-old San Antonio man who was killed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":604943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,17246,87849,409,47399,2399,7202,7203,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-604942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-homeland-security","tag-hsi","tag-immigration","tag-joaquin-castro","tag-kristi-noem","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116106587271309784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}