Martinez, who had raised concerns about the increasingly aggressive behavior of the whales, was in the middle of a routine stunt when the unthinkable happened. Out of nowhere, Keto, a powerful orca, blocked his path and suddenly pulled him underwater. Despite desperate efforts from trainers to intervene, the whale relentlessly shoved Martinez to the pool’s bottom, overpowering all attempts to save him.
Tragically, Martinez sustained fatal injuries—internal bleeding, organ damage, and severe bite marks. His partner, Estefanía Luis Rodriguez, later shared that Martinez had noticed a disturbing increase in the whales’ disruptive behavior in the weeks leading up to the attack.
Keto, a captive-born orca loaned from SeaWorld, had never known the vastness of the ocean. Martinez’s death came just two months before another fatal orca attack, this time on trainer Dawn Brancheau. In response to the growing concerns, SeaWorld made the unprecedented decision to suspend all in-water interactions with orcas across its parks.
