Texas grand jury declines to indict DHS agent in fatal shooting

A Texas grand jury has declined to indict a Homeland Security Investigations agent who fatally shot a US citizen during a traffic encounter on South Padre Island last year, according to reporting by The Independent, citing the Associated Press. Ruben Ray Martinez was killed on March 15 2025; prosecutors in Cameron County confirmed on Wednesday that the case was presented and no indictments were returned. The Department of Homeland Security says Martinez “intentionally ran over” an HSI special agent, prompting another agent to fire “defensive shots”.

The decision lands amid a broader enforcement surge in President Donald Trump’s second term, during which at least six deadly shootings by federal officers have been reported, according to the same account. The immediate problem for accountability is structural: the investigators, the witnesses and the narrative are often controlled by the same institution that fired the shots. In this case, DHS did not publicly disclose the incident until media reporting surfaced last week, leaving the first public version of events to be the agency’s own description. That matters because the legal threshold for prosecution is not “something went wrong” but proof beyond a reasonable doubt against an individual officer.

There is also a predictable asymmetry in risk. Agents operating under a mandate to increase removals and expand enforcement activity are rewarded for initiative and speed, while the downside of a mistaken use of force is dispersed across taxpayers, court systems and victims’ families. Even when prosecutors present a case, juries are asked to evaluate split-second decisions against a backdrop of deference to law enforcement and the expectation that officers will claim a threat. Civil litigation is further constrained by doctrines that make it hard to sue federal agents personally, and by the practical reality that most settlements—when they happen—come from public funds rather than from the decision-makers.

The evidentiary picture can also degrade quickly. A passenger in Martinez’s vehicle, Joshua Orta, disputed DHS’ account in a draft affidavit prepared last year, attorneys for the family told reporters. Orta said the car was “just crawling” and that an agent fired into the driver’s side window without warning or commands, according to the draft. Orta, described as a key witness, died in a car crash last weekend—an unrelated event that nonetheless removes the most direct counter-narrative from any future proceedings.

A grand jury’s “no bill” closes one lane of accountability, but it does not answer the factual question of what happened at the intersection. The state can escalate enforcement with armed personnel; the public record can still hinge on whether a witness survives long enough to testify.

Martinez was shot through the driver’s side window on a trip to South Padre Island, and the federal agency involved did not disclose the incident until after reporters asked about it.