Suspect in MAGA hat arrested for shooting at New Mexico protest

Welcome to The Independent’s blog for Friday, 29 September 2023 where we provide the latest updates on a shooting in New Mexico that took place during the installation of a statue of controversial Spanish conquistador Juan de Onate.

Chaos erupted Thursday as a gunshot rang out during a protest in northern New Mexico where officials had planned to install a statue of Spanish conquistador Juan de Onate, an event that county officials had already postponed anticipating that tempers would flare.

One man was struck by the gunfire and rushed to the hospital.

The victim, whose identity has not yet been revealed, could be heard saying, “Help me! Help me!” and “I can’t breathe,” after he got shot.

He earlier 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.

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.

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”.

My colleague Mike Bedigan reports:

The shooting in New Mexico occurred when protesters and counter-protesters lingered after the cancellation of a planned installation of a monument depicting Juan de Oñate.

The demonstrators arrived Tuesday and pitched tents. They placed offerings on and around the empty pedestal to Oñate: pottery, corn stalks, votive candles, a basket of vegetables. Banners read, “not today Oñate,” and “celebrate resistance not conquistadores”.

”The man who would later draw and fire a gun swore in arguments with protesters and was told by law enforcement officers to leave. Video captured by onlookers showed the man jumping a short wall and heading toward the crowd as others grabbed him.

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.

The shooting occurred just outside the doors of county offices, which include sheriff offices. More than 20 law enforcement vehicles responded, crowding an Española city roadway that overlooks the Upper Rio Grande Valley, and a suspect was immediately taken into custody.

Chaos erupted on Thursday as a gunshot rang out during a protest in northern New Mexico where officials had planned to install a statue of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate, an event that county officials had already postponed anticipating that tempers would flare.

Oñate has been a controversial figure in New Mexico’s history for generations, with activists targeting the statue and other likenesses of the Spaniard for his oppressive and sometimes brutal treatment of Native Americans during his country’s conquest of what is now the Southwestern United States.

Some Hispanics have pointed to the statue as a symbol of their heritage.

Oñate, who arrived in present-day New Mexico in 1598, has divided opinion among communities – 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.

The shooting incident in New Mexico 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 down 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.

Prior to Thursday’s shooting, county authorities had already made the decision to postpone the installation of a statue of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate due to public safety concerns.

Sheriff Billy Merrifield said he was grateful to county commissioners who decided against putting up the statue. However, despite the postponement, people turned up at the venue anyway with banners that read “not today Oñate,” and “celebrate resistance not conquistadores.”

Expressing distress over the shooting incident, the sheriff said: “Once again, the saddest part about this is we have another incident of gun violence.”

He declined to take any questions, saying New Mexico State Police were handling the crime scene and the investigation. The police also did not issue any statement regarding charges brought against the suspect in custody, who has been named as 23-year-old Ryan Martinez.

A dispatcher, who wasn’t authorised to release any information, said additional details were expected to be released later on Thursday night or Friday.

Jennifer Marley, an organiser for the Native American rights group The Red Nation, said the shooting took place within view of the county sheriff’s department building but without any officers on site to intervene.

“It was awful. This was a peaceful call to action. We were there to celebrate the fact that the statue was not going up,” she said.

She described Juan de Oñate’s legacy as one of genocidal violence. “It’s really ironic, I was basically saying that this violence is ongoing ... even when we are being peaceful and prayerful. The shooting began while I was speaking.”

The shooting happened on the same day the New Mexico Department of Health released a report on gunshot victims treated at New Mexico’s hospitals.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham commissioned the report earlier this month, alongside issuing a public health order that temporarily suspended gun rights in the Albuquerque area over recent gun violence.

A federal judge blocked aspects of it while a flurry of lawsuits alleging violations of constitutional rights played out.

According to the report, there was a 16 per cent increase in patients admitted to intensive care units for firearm injuries between 2019 and 2022. Gunshot victims transferred from emergency departments to operating rooms increased by 61 per cent over the same time frame.

The report also noted that deaths from firearm injuries between 2017 and 2021 increased among Hispanics, non-Hispanic Native Americans and non-Hispanic Black populations.