MAGA-hatted man in custody after allegedly opening fire at statue protest: report

A New Mexico Trump supporter is in custody after allegedly opening fire at a protest in Albuquerque against the re-erection of a statue honoring a conquistador, reported The Daily Beast on Thursday.

According to A.J. McDougall, the suspect, 23-year-old Ryan Martinez, "was collared by sheriff’s deputies shortly after fleeing the scene in a white Tesla, according to the Albuquerque Journal. The newspaper reported that he identified himself to a Journal photographer on the scene as Ryan Martinez prior to the shooting, and that he allegedly shot a Native American man following a 'scuffle.'"

Martinez, who had been seen wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat earlier in the day, reportedly shot his victim in the upper torso area, and the victim was taken to the hospital for treatment.

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The incident reportedly broke out at a demonstration over a statue of Juan de Oñate, a conquistador who served as New Mexico's first colonial governor and carried out a massacre of hundreds of indigenous people in 1599. This statue had been taken down and placed in storage in 2020, and was supposed to be reinstated this week, but local protests persuaded city officials to hold off on reinstalling the statue for the time being.

This is not the first politically motivated shooting in the state of New Mexico this year.

In January, failed New Mexico State House candidate Solomon Peña, an election denier and Trump supporter, was arrested after allegedly conspiring with and paying four people to fire on the homes of Democratic lawmakers and county commissioners.