Joshua Orta, the only known eyewitness to a fatal 2025 ICE shooting involving an immigration agent, died this weekend in an unrelated car crash near San Antonio, attorneys and news outlets report. Orta, 25, was in the passenger seat in March 2025 when his friend, 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez, was shot and killed by a federal agent on South Padre Island, Texas. The involvement of ICE agents in the incident was not publicly disclosed until recent document releases.
At the time, the Department of Homeland Security said Martinez failed to comply and struck an agent, prompting another agent to fire. Internal records revealed that ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents were assisting local police with traffic control when the encounter occurred.
Orta had provided a detailed account to lawyers for Martinez’s family that contradicted the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s version of events. In his statement, he said traffic was backed up, and Martinez was trying to comply when an agent “seemed to be trying to get in front of the car,” and officers drew their guns. He wrote that agents fired “multiple shots” without warning and that Martinez was unarmed and not resisting.
Orta’s attorney said he planned to formally sign the statement and assist with further inquiries before the accident. Law enforcement described his death as a separate highway collision that occurred early Saturday and was not related to the 2025 shooting.
Martinez’s family has pushed for transparency and an independent investigation into the shooting, and Orta’s death has removed a key eyewitness in that effort.
