A man is in custody after opening fire during a protest of a controversial statue in Española, New Mexico, on Thursday, according to video of the shooting.
The shooting happened outside of the Rio Arriba County Clerk’s Office after an altercation where a Juan de Oñate statue was supposed to be rededicated, according to NBC affiliate KOB. A suspect in the case was taken into custody, the New Mexico State Police said.
A representative for Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as 23-year-old Ryan Martinez.
One person was transported to the hospital and was in stable condition, the sheriff’s office said, but the extent of his injuries was not clear.
The rededication was postponed indefinitely in the interest of public safety, according to the sheriff, but some people gathered outside Thursday morning anyway.
A motive for the shooting was not yet identified and no charges have been filed.
Witnesses told KOB that the conflict prior to the shooting involved a a counter protester charging at some of the people who originally gathered to celebrate the postponement of the rededication of Oñate’s statue.
The suspect was described as a young man in his 20s wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat and a teal shirt, according to KOB. The sheriff’s office was not able to confirm whether Martinez wore the hat at the time of the shooting.
The Rio Arriba statue was removed in 2020 from another location in the county, according to The Albuquerque Journal. One person was shot during a protest over an Oñate statue in Albuquerque’s Old Town in 2020, as protesters and counter protesters clashed over whether it should be removed, the Journal reported.
Oñate was the first European conquistador to colonize New Mexico and many in the state have previously called for his statues to be taken down over the violent history colonialism, NPR reported three years ago.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
