A federal agent shot at the man after he drove at and struck a fellow agent, according to an ICE incident report.
SAN ANTONIO — New records obtained by KENS 5 reveal a San Antonio man was shot and killed by federal immigration enforcement personnel when he allegedly struck an agent who was helping to redirect traffic on South Padre Island.
According to an ICE incident report, agents based out of Harlingen were assisting South Padre Island police early in the morning of March 15, 2025, in the aftermath of a crash when a Ford vehicle began approaching the area. The driver “slowed to a stop” as officers gave verbal commands, at which point law enforcement “surrounded the vehicle and verbally commanded the driver to exit the vehicle,” according to the report.
Instead, records state, the driver “accelerated forward, striking a HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) special agent who wound up on the hood of the vehicle.” Another agent shot multiple times at the driver through the driver’s side window of the car, hitting him.
The victim, identified in records as a U.S. citizen, died after being taken to a hospital in Brownsville. The agent who was hit was hospitalized and treated for a knee injury.
An ICE spokesperson confirmed the incident with KENS 5, saying the federal agent who opened fire at the vehicle did so “to protect himself, his fellow agents and the general public.”
Texas Rangers led the investigation into the incident. On Friday, the agency said it wouldn’t provide information about the case, saying that probe was still active.
The connection between the man’s death and ICE was first made by Newsweek.
San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro, who has been critical in recent weeks of federal immigration enforcement practices amid the recent crackdown in Minneapolis and the ICE killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, accused ICE and the Texas Department of Public Safety of covering up the incident in a social media post. He also said he was “calling for a full investigation into this shooting.”