Mastodawn

Yet another video of #ICE #shooting of Texas man raises questions about government “claim” [lie]
 An #Immigration & Customs Enforcement official said #RubenMartinez “intentionally ran over” an agent before being killed by another agent last March.

#Trump #law #murder #ExtraJudicialKillings #Constitution #CivilRights #DueProcess #ExcessiveForce #UseOfForce #PoliceBrutality #AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism #fascism #StateSponsoredTerrorism #Sturmabteilung #WhiteSupremacy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/03/07/ruben-martinez-dhs-killing-texas-video/

Video of ICE shooting of Texas man raises questions about government claim

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Ruben Martinez “intentionally ran over” an agent before being killed by another agent in south Texas last year.

The Washington Post

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Nonilex Mar 8

Video released by investigators in the fatal #shooting last March of a #US #citizen by a federal #immigration agent calls into question an #ICE spox’s claim that the victim “intentionally ran over” a different agent before being shot. The investigative material released Friday by the #Texas Dept of #PublicSafety shows that #RubenMartinez, 23, was given conflicting instructions as he encountered law enforcement officers from multiple agencies near the scene of a previous vehicle accident…March15.

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Nonilex Mar 8

His car moved forward very slowly in the moments before Homeland Security Investigations [#HSI] Agent Jack C. Stevens fired 3 shots into Martinez’s blue Ford sedan. The footage does not show Martinez speeding up rapidly or appearing to target a second HSI agent, Hector Sosa.
 Martinez was under the influence of alcohol & had marijuana in his system [IRRELEVANT], acc/to autopsy records, as different officers allowed him to keep going & shouted at him to stop.

#Trump #law #murder #UseOfForce

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Nonilex Mar 8

Sosa told investigators that Martinez’s car struck his legs, causing him to fall over the hood before Stevens opened fire. It is not clear from the nighttime footage whether the exceptionally slow-moving car actually hit Sosa. Footage from a nearby business shows the hood of the Ford. But the video is grainy & skips through some portions & does not definitively show whether there is a figure on top of the hood.

#Trump #law #murder #ExcessiveForce #UseOfForce #HSI #ICE #CBP #Sturmabteilung

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Nonilex Mar 8

Geoffrey P. Alpert, a professor of criminology & criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, said the chaotic scene, & its handling by law enforcement, raises “a lot of red flags.”
 “The contradictory orders are confusing & may have been a strong influence,” Alpert said. “The speed is slow & doesn’t appear threatening. Could the officer have moved away? At worst, all he has to do is step aside. We call it officer-created jeopardy.”

#Trump #law #murder #UseOfForce #HSI #ICE #CBP

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Nonilex Mar 8

The body-camera & surveillance footage was released along with witness statements & other material after a grand jury in #Texas declined to indict Stevens in connection with Martinez’s death.

In an emailed statement, acting #ICE director Todd Lyons said: “We stand by the grand jury’s unanimous decision that found no criminality. This incident was investigated from every possible angle by an independent body, & it cleared our officer.”

#Trump #law #murder #UseOfForce #HSI #CBP #Sturmabteilung

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Nonilex Mar 8

The evidence provides a raft of new information about the first known #DHS fatal #shooting of a #US #citizen since #Trump returned to office & began his aggressive #immigration crackdown. 
More than a dozen people have been shot by DHS personnel over the past 14 months, including at least 2 other fatal shootings of US citizens during immigration enforcement operations.

#law #murder #ExtraJudicialKillings #ExcessiveForce #UseOfForce #fascism #StateSponsoredTerrorism #ICE #CBP #Sturmabteilung

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Nonilex

In January, #immigration personnel in Minneapolis shot #RenéeGood & #AlexPretti in separate incidents days apart. 3 months earlier, a #CBP agent shot & injured #MarimarMartinez in Chicago. In each of those 3 cases, admin officials accused the victims of endangering the officers before they were killed, &…their characterizations were proved false once more information about the #shootings became public.

#Trump #law #murder #ExtraJudicialKillings #ExcessiveForce #UseOfForce #fascism #ICE

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Nonilex Mar 8

In a fourth case, 2 #ICE officers were suspended & placed under federal investigation after making false statements about the nonfatal #shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, in Minneapolis.

While those cases drew immediate & intense public scrutiny, #DHS did not publicly acknowledge that one of its agents had fatally shot #RubenMartinez in TX, until last month, when a lawsuit brought by a nonprofit government watchdog group unearthed the agency’s narrative of the incident.

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Nonilex Mar 8

The internal #DHS documents claimed that officers & agents commanded #RubenMartinez to stop & get out of his car as he approached law enforcement personnel from several agencies who were securing the scene of a vehicle accident involving multiple injuries. Martinez “accelerated forward, striking a HSI special agent who wound up on the hood of the vehicle,” the internal documents claim.
 Following the public disclosure of the killing, a DHS spox said Martinez “intentionally ran over” the agent.

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Nonilex Mar 8

After the investigative material was released Friday, lawyers for #RubenMartinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, said the footage called the government’s narrative into question. “These new videos confirm that Ruben’s car was barely moving when he was shot,” Charles M. Stam & Alex Stamm said in a statement. “That he was shot at point-blank range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger.”

#Trump #law #murder #ExcessiveForce #UseOfForce #fascism #tyranny #HSI #ICE #CBP #Sturmabteilung