By Andrew Hay
TIERRA AMARILLA, New Mexico (Reuters) – A New Mexico man on Friday claimed self-defense in the shooting of an Indigenous activist at a protest of the re-installation of a 16th century Spanish colonial ruler’s statue.
Ryan Martinez, 23, of Sandia Park pleaded not guilty on Friday to attempted murder and aggravated assault in the Sept. 29 shooting of Jacob Johns, 42, of Spokane, Washington.
Police say Martinez was trying to disrupt a peaceful protest over the statue of Juan de Onate, the area’s first colonial governor. Nicole Moss, Martinez’s lawyer, said during the plea hearing that her client, wearing a red hat bearing the Donald Trump slogan “Make America Great Again,” was peacefully taking photographs and a video when he was attacked by protesters.
She said protesters opposed to the statue did not like Martinez’s presence because of his MAGA hat.
Video played in court showed a protester grabbing Martinez around the neck and pushing him against a low wall before Martinez drew a handgun from the waistband of his pants.
“He fired one shot at Mr. Johns in self-defense,” Moss said.
Prior to the shooting Martinez told a police officer and protesters to “fuck off” when they approached him, Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Dennis testified.
“He was kind of upset, he wanted to make a statement,” Dennis said.
It was the latest violence around statues to Onate erected in the 1990s to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Spaniards.
The monuments have long outraged Native Americans and others who decry Onate’s brutal 1598 colonization.
Some descendants of Spanish colonial settlers, known as Hispanos, say Onate should be celebrated as part of New Mexico’s Hispanic heritage.
After the Sept. 29 shooting, Rio Arriba County authorities indefinitely postponed a ceremony to reinstall an Onate statue that had been taken down three years ago during nationwide anti-racism demonstrations.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico; Editing by Donna Bryson and Matthew Lewis)
