Randy Martin

Randy Martin, 47, was shot eight times and killed by Galveston, Texas Police Officer Joshua Nino De Guzman during a traffic stop on May 18, 2026, after De Guzman said he saw Martin's car leaving an alley that police had under narcotics surveillance. De Guzman ordered Martin out of the car to frisk him for weapons; a struggle followed in which De Guzman said Martin grabbed for his holstered weapon and raised an object he believed was a gun, prompting him to fire eight rounds. No firearm belonging to Martin was ever recovered. An autopsy found seven entrance wounds, five of them in Martin's upper right back, and the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. A Galveston County grand jury declined to indict De Guzman in September 2026. No one has ever been charged in Martin's death.

Galveston, TX · Galveston County

• 2026: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic stop, the struggle, and the shooting, per a 40-page Texas Rangers investigative report and body and dash camera footage the City of Galveston released publicly in September 2026.
• Officer Joshua Nino De Guzman stopped Martin's car on May 18, 2026, saying he had seen it leave an alley near an address police had under narcotics surveillance; De Guzman later told investigators he also believed Martin had run several stop signs, though no video showing that has been released.
• Body camera footage shows De Guzman ordering Martin out of the car to check him for firearms without stating a reason; Martin asked why he had been stopped and said he had not run any stop signs.
• A struggle followed in which dash camera video showed Martin resisting being frisked, putting an arm around the officer's head and neck, and reaching for De Guzman's holstered weapon, according to the Texas Rangers' report; De Guzman separated from Martin and fired eight shots, killing him.
• No firearm belonging to Martin was recovered at the scene; investigators found a plastic container and bags containing a white powdery substance in a nearby driveway. Ashley Parks, who was riding in Martin's car, told investigators Martin had fought with the officer partly because he was trying to get back into the vehicle to discard drugs he had on him.
• An autopsy found seven entrance wounds, five of them in Martin's upper right back, and the medical examiner classified his death a homicide.
• A Galveston County grand jury declined to indict De Guzman, with the district attorney's office announcing the no-bill decision in September 2026; De Guzman remains employed by the Galveston Police Department, reassigned to its Support Services Bureau rather than patrol duty.
• Martin's family is weighing a federal civil lawsuit against the City of Galveston; his mother, Paula Martin Lynch, said publicly, “My son was murdered,” and a judge separately ordered the city to turn over unredacted body and dash camera footage to the family's attorney.

• Whether Martin in fact reached for the officer's weapon or raised an object mistaken for a gun, as De Guzman's account states, is difficult to reconcile with the autopsy finding that five of his seven wounds struck his upper back, and was never tested at any criminal trial, since the grand jury declined to indict.
• Why De Guzman ordered Martin out of the car specifically to frisk him for a weapon before any indication of one, rather than first explaining the basis for the stop, has not been addressed in the official investigative account.
• The full, unredacted body and dash camera footage ordered released to the family's attorney had not been made public in the sources reviewed for this summary.

• Atlanta Black Star — “'My Son Was Murdered': Texas Cop Says He Feared for His Life, But Video Raises Questions After He Fatally Shoots Black Driver and Walks”
• Houston Public Media — “New details emerge in Texas Rangers' investigation of fatal Galveston police shooting”
• The Galveston County Daily News — “Family of man shot by Galveston police seeks unredacted footage, weighs civil suit”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs