Suspect in Maga hat arrested after protester shot during demo against statue of conquistador in New Mexico
The victim had identified himself as a Native American to a photographer from The Albuquerque Journal shortly before the incident
A man earlier pictured wearing a Maga hat has been arrested in New Mexico for shooting a protester during a demonstration against a controversial statue of a Spanish conquistador.
Rio Arriba County sheriff’s officials said Ryan Martinez, 23, was taken into custody in connection with the shooting, which took place outside county offices in the city of Española, according to the Associated Press.
Pictures and video showed a man brandishing a firearm. The same man was earlier wearing a red hat bearing the words “Make America Great Again”.
The wounded man was reportedly shot in the upper torso and taken to a nearby hospital, though no further details were made immediately available by officials. The victim had identified himself as Native American to a photographer from The Albuquerque Journal shortly before the incident.
Authorities said that a motive for the shooting was unclear.
According to local outlets, the incident occurred after protesters and counter-protesters had gathered and lingered after the installation of a monument depicting Juan de Oñate was cancelled.
Footage online showed a struggle between protesters and the man wearing the Maga hat, who then fell over a barricade, produced a gun and fired, causing those gathered to scatter.
At a brief press conference following the incident, County Sheriff Billy Merrifield told reporters: “Once again, the saddest part about this is we have another incident of gun violence.”
According to the AP, Sheriff Merrifield added he had expressed concerns about safety issues to county commissioners about reinstalling the statue in Española outside the county building and that he was grateful to commissioners who decided against putting up the statue.
Organisers of the protest against the statue’s installation said the incident demonstrated the “legacy of violence and hate” that the statue represented.
Jennifer Marley, an organiser for Red Nation, told local outlet KOB4: “There’s so much precedent for telling people like this young man, the shooter, that they’re going to get away with it, and I fully believe that he did this thinking he would get away with it.”
Janene Yazzie, Indian Collective organiser, added: “This demonstrates exactly what we are fighting for.
“We have been pointing out that this hasn’t been about just a statue but about what it represents and the legacy of violence and hate that it is a foundation for.”
The incident is the second shooting at a protest over an Oñate statue, the first of which occurred in June 2020 outside the Alburquerque Museum, in Albuquerque, when demonstrators attempted to tear another depiction of the conquistador down.
A confrontation had erupted between protesters and a group of armed men who were trying to protect the bronze monument. Protesters then wrapped a chain around it and tugged repeatedly on it.
Oñate, who arrived in present-day New Mexico in 1598, has divided opinion among communuties – celebrated by some as a cultural father figure, but condemned by others for his brutality.
To Native Americans, Oñate is known for having ordered the right feet cut off of 24 captive tribal warriors after his soldiers stormed the Acoma Pueblo’s mesa-top “sky city.” That attack was supposedly precipitated by the killing of Onate’s nephew.
In 1998, someone sawed the right foot off the statue.