New surveillance video and bodycam footage reveal the tense moments before a federal agent shot and killed a San Antonio man in South Padre Island.
SAN ANTONIO — Newly released video and investigative interviews are shedding new light on the fatal shooting of a San Antonio man by a federal agent in South Padre Island last year.
KENS 5 obtained hours of surveillance video, police body camera footage and investigative interviews through a public records request with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The materials are tied to the March 15, 2025 shooting death of 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez.
Martinez was shot and killed after federal authorities said he struck an officer with his vehicle near a crash scene where officers were directing traffic.
According to officials, the shots were fired by Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Jack Stevens. Authorities said Stevens opened fire after Martinez failed to follow commands and drove into an officer.
However, the only passenger in Martinez’s car told investigators a different account of what happened.
Surveillance video released by DPS shows Martinez’s vehicle driving into view near the crash scene before gunshots ring out and people nearby begin running for cover.
In radio traffic recorded around the time of the shooting, an officer can be heard saying, “Shots fired, shots fired… here at 2300.”
Joshua Orta, who was sitting in the passenger seat, described the moments leading up to the shooting during an interview with Texas Rangers conducted hours after the incident.
“They were yelling, ‘Stop the vehicle! Stop, stop the car,’” Orta told investigators.
Orta said he and Martinez had driven from San Antonio to South Padre Island the night before to visit friends.
“Literally we got here a couple of hours ago just to go chill with some friends,” Orta said.
According to Orta, the two had been looking for clubs and later stopped at Whataburger before heading back to their condo when they encountered the crash scene and officers directing traffic.
Body camera footage shows officers shouting as Martinez’s car moves forward.
“Hey, where are you going?” one officer can be heard saying in the video.
“Stop him!” another officer shouts moments later.
Orta told investigators he was urging Martinez to stop the car.
“I was like, ‘Just stop, stop, don’t go,’” Orta said. “Then I just heard three shots.”
Body camera footage captures the moments after the shooting, when Orta can be heard asking officers, “Is my brother OK? Is he conscious?”
Federal agents later described what they say happened in those final seconds. One officer said the vehicle struck him as it moved forward.
“He doesn’t stop and all of a sudden he just drives,” an HSI officer said in body camera footage describing the encounter.
Orta acknowledged the two had been drinking earlier in the evening but told investigators Martinez never intended to harm anyone.
“He didn’t floor it or nothing. It started slowly moving,” Orta said. “I know he didn’t mean to hurt no officer.”
Orta said he and Martinez had been close friends since childhood.
“That’s my brother from day one,” he said.
Martinez died shortly after the shooting.
A Cameron County grand jury later declined to indict anyone involved in the shooting, according to The Associated Press.
Video appears to show Martinez’s vehicle stopped or moving slowly with its brake lights on when the shots were fired, raising questions about the sequence of events described by authorities.
Martinez’s family has continued to push for more information about the shooting and the release of additional evidence.
In a separate development, Orta — considered a key witness in the case — died in a crash in San Antonio last month.