At least one question was answered last Friday, Oct. 13, regarding the shooting at the Rio Arriba County Complex.
Ryan Martinez, 23, of Sandia Park, is headed for trial in the wounding of John Jacobs, 40, of Spokane, Washington. He will be held in jail without bond.
State District Judge Jason Lidyard found probable cause for attempted murder on the wounding of Johns and also probably cause for aggravated assault for allegedly pointing his gun at Malaya Corrine Peixinho, 23.
Johns reportedly remains in serious condition with potentially fatal injuries in the hospital in Albuquerque.
The shooting occurred at the county complex during a demonstration for the planned but aborted installation of the Juan de Oñate statue. A decision not to place the statue at the complex had been announced the night before on Sept. 27. The statue was removed from its place in Alcalde in 2020 and has been in storage ever since.
One of the open questions is who made the decision to install the statue at the county complex. There is no evidence of a vote by the three-member county board of commissioners. Some blame chairman Alex Naranjo but he says County Manager Jeremy Maestas made the decision. Either way it seems to have been a bad idea.
Onate, who was once governor of New Mexico and Spanish conquistador, has been a controversial historical figure for centuries. His reign was in the 1500s and into the 1600s.
Indigenous protestors had been at the courthouse for several days prior to the shooting. Johns is reportedly an Indigenous activist, as well as an activist in climate change controversies.
News reports have highlighted that Martinez was wearing a MAGA (Make America Great Again) baseball cap at the demonstration. Videos and photos of him pointing and firing a handgun have been posted in the press and on social media.
His attorney, Nicole Moss, argued on Friday that Martinez was attempting to defend himself. Photos of the event have also shown Martinez in a scuffle with protestors.
It would appear self-defense will be an argument presented at his trial. Speculation has been frequent that prosecutors will also seek to classify the shooting as a hate crime. Reportedly, Martinez had two loaded firearms with him at the event and police discovered an AR-15 at his home following the incident.
The hearing on Friday was not without drama with spectators weeping and Martinez breaking down into audible sobs during closing arguments.
But questions remain.
Protestors began arriving at the complex three days before the planned installation of Onate, according to police, who also have reported they were peaceful. But where were they from? Most of those who congregated at the complex were not residents of Rio Arriba County. The victim of the shooting was reportedly on his way to a climate change event but diverted to Espanola. Neither he nor the alleged shooter were “from here.”
Reports indicate that there was at least one trained medic in the group and that they were well provisioned in case of violence.
If some of those in attendance at the complex had been here for several days, where did they sleep? How do these people afford to travel to protests and how do they afford to stay in towns not home to them?
A looming question remains about how these protests from people all over the country are financed?
Is there a sub-culture in this country pulling strings from afar that can dramatically affect us on a local level? We are not fond of conspiracy theories but the event at the courthouse raises questions about motives and financing.
There will be a trial and perhaps from that trial we will learn more about what might be the dark underbelly of political agendas affecting all of us at the local level and in an unsuspecting way.
Editor’s note: In an editorial last week in the Rio Grande Sun we mistakenly identified Dale Salazar as an Espanola City Councilor. He is not. Dennis Tim Salazar is the city councilman. Dale Salazar is a candidate for the Espanola School Board.
Clarification: In a Sept. 21 news story on the planned installation of the Juan de Onate statue the byline was attributed to Alejandro Lopez, a freelancer for the Sun. His original story was edited by our staff and portions rewritten, a practice regularly used in our industry. Mr. Lopez’s byline should have been removed in order to show he did not write all of it.