Gunshots rang out and chaos erupted Thursday during a protest in northern New Mexico that planned to install a statue of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate, but county officials said they expected an outburst of anger. It had already been postponed.
A man was taken to the hospital after being shot while Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s officials took suspect Ryan Martinez, 23, into custody.
Authorities said they are not currently searching for other suspects in connection with the shooting.
Oñate has been a controversial figure in New Mexico’s history for generations, and was credited with oppressive and sometimes brutal treatment of Native Americans during his conquest of what is now the American Southwest. Activists have targeted statues and other likenesses of Spaniards for their actions. Some Hispanic residents say the statue is a symbol of their heritage.
The county postponed the installation of the statue the day before due to public safety concerns, but people still gathered.
Protesters arrived Tuesday and set up tents. They placed offerings such as pottery, corn stalks, votive candles, and baskets of vegetables on and around the empty pedestal to Oñate.
The banners read: “Today is not Oñate” and “We celebrate the resistance, not the conquerors.”
The man, who later pulled out a gun and opened fire, used profanity during an altercation with protesters and was ordered by law enforcement officers to leave.
Video taken by an onlooker showed the man jumping over a short wall and heading toward the crowd while being grabbed by others.
One person yelled, “Hey, hey, hey.” Let him go! “He got out of there and jumped back over the wall.
At that point, he pulled a gun from his waistband, fired one shot, and drove off. A scream went up.
One person was heard saying, “Help!” help me! ” and “I can’t breathe.”
The shooting occurred just outside county offices, including the sheriff’s office.
More than 20 law enforcement vehicles responded, congesting roads in Española, which overlooks the upper Rio Grande Valley.
Authorities did not immediately release the name of the injured man, but he was shot in the upper body and was being treated at a local hospital, authorities said.
Authorities say the motive for the shooting is unknown.
“Again, the saddest thing about this case is that we have yet another incident of gun violence,” County Sheriff Billy Merrifield said during a brief news conference.
Merrifield said he expressed concerns to county commissioners about safety issues in reinstalling Española’s statue outside the courthouse. He said he was grateful to the commissioners for halting the statue’s installation.
He did not respond to questions, saying New Mexico State Police were in charge of the scene and investigation.
State police did not immediately respond to an email or phone call Thursday night from The Associated Press seeking information about the victim’s condition or any charges filed or pending in connection with the shooting.
A dispatcher who was not authorized to release any information said additional details were expected to be released Thursday night or late Friday.
San Ildefonso Pueblo resident Jennifer Marley, an organizer with the Native American rights group Red Nation, said the shooting occurred within sight of the county sheriff’s office building, but police officers who intervened at the scene said the shooting occurred within sight of the county sheriff’s office building. He said there was no one there.
“It was terrible. This was a peaceful call to action. We were there to celebrate the fact that the statue would not be erected,” she said.
She said Oñate’s legacy is one of genocidal violence. “It’s really ironic, but what I was trying to say is that even when we’re at peace and praying, this violence continues. As I’m speaking, the shootings start. Ta.”
The shooting occurred on the day the New Mexico Department of Health released a report on gunshot victims treated at New Mexico hospitals.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham commissioned the report earlier this month while issuing a public health order temporarily suspending gun rights in the Albuquerque area because of recent gun violence.
A federal judge has blocked some of the lawsuits alleging violations of constitutional rights.
The report found that between 2019 and 2022, admissions to intensive care units for gunshot injuries increased by 16%.
The number of gunshot victims transferred from the emergency department to the operating room increased by 61% over the same period.
The report also noted that gunshot injury deaths increased among Hispanics, non-Hispanic American Indians, and non-Hispanic Blacks from 2017 to 2021.
Tony Ortega, a 78-year-old retired engineer who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, said he was happy to hear the county plans to reopen the Oñate statue to the public as a symbol of local Hispanic pride. But he said he knew it would cause problems.
“We knew this was going to be a problem. Native Americans don’t want that,” Ortega said. “They think Oñate was more or less a bad guy.”
Oñate, who arrived in what is now New Mexico in 1598, is hailed as a father of culture in communities along the upper Rio Grande whose ancestors were Spanish settlers. However, he has also been criticized for his brutality.
To Native Americans, Oñate is known for ordering the right legs of 24 captured tribal warriors to be amputated after his soldiers stormed Acoma Pueblo’s mesa-top “City in the Sky.”
The attack was prompted by the murder of Mr. Onate’s nephew.
In 1998, someone cut off the right leg of the Oñate statue near Española, where it remained on display until it was removed in 2020 amid a national movement for racial justice that toppled countless monuments.
In 2020, a bronze portrait of Oñate inside a caravan of Spanish settlers was installed outside the Albuquerque City Museum, sparking protests and leading to its removal.
Rio Arriba County Commission Chairman Alex Naranjo, a Democratic former magistrate judge and education commissioner, said he remains committed to returning the statue to the public.
He said the bronze effigy and accompanying cultural center in the nearby Alcalde area was a project supported by his uncle, Emilio Naranjo, a state senator, and other public figures, and was funded by 100 million yen in county, state and federal funds. He said it was built at a cost of more than $1,000. Former Governor Bill Richardson.
He blamed Thursday’s clashes on “disrespectful” protesters from across the Española Valley, but cited many of Thursday’s protesters because of their ties to local indigenous groups. .
“For me, it’s a matter of principle,” Naranjo said. Naranjo traces his ancestry to Spanish settlers who arrived in the late 1500s. “Even if someone disagrees with me, I won’t question them as long as they behave in a respectful and cordial manner.”
