Indianz.Com > News > ‘A premeditated act of violence’: Red Nation calls for safety after racist attack in New Mexico
‘A premeditated act of violence’
The Red Nation calls for safety after racist attack in New Mexico
Monday, October 2, 2023
Indianz.Com
The Red Nation is calling for safety following a racist shooting that has resulted in attempted murder and aggravated assault charges in New Mexico.
Ryan David Martinez, 23, has been charged in connection with the violent shooting of Jacob Johns, a Native activist, during a peaceful gathering on Pueblo homelands in the northern part of the state. Following the September 28 incident, the criminal defendant is appearing in court on Monday morning and The Red Nation is warning that he could be released.
“Do not release the shooter!!” the Native-led group said in a press release on Sunday.
“This must be recognized as the racially-motivated hate crime it is at all levels of government.”
In a video update, Melanie Yazzie of The Red Nation said Johns was shot while protecting Native people who gathered in Española last Thursday. She described Martinez, who had made himself known to media and other participants, as an “agitator” who was intent on disrupting the peaceful event.
“This was a premeditated act of violence,” Yazzie said in the video, posted on Sunday.
Indianz.Com
UPDATE: The hearing appears to be available via video through Judge Naranjo’s Google Meet link.
Law enforcement has repeatedly described the Native gathering last Thursday as a peaceful event. Most of the organizers, primarily led by The Red Nation, along with the speakers, have been Native women and elders from New Mexico. However, officials in Rio Arriba County have not taken any responsibility for the shooting, which occurred following their decision to resurrect a monument to Juan de Oñate, a colonial figure reviled for his acts of violence in the 1500s and 1600s. The county had planned to install the statue, which has been kept in hiding for more than three years after being removed from its original site, on Thursday, before deciding to postpone. The new site of the Oñate statue — where the shooting took place — is slated to be the county complex on the west side of Española. Martinez’s hearing on Monday is set to take place in a building in the same area. According to The Red Nation, Martinez has been held at a jail in Tierra Amarilla, the county seat. That’s more than an hour north of Española. Johns is an activist, artist and father who is from the Hopi Tribe and is Akimel O’odham from the Gila River Indian Community. He was shot in the chest during the incident, according to an online fundraiser that was started to support him and his family during his recovery. He is being treated in Albuquerque, where he underwent at least one surgery. A video clip from last Thursday shows Johns trying to keep Martinez away from the Native women, children and elders who were at the celebration. NDN Collective, a Native-led group that supports The Red Nation’s efforts to keep the Oñate off public property, has posted a witness account of the shooting that features images and audio from the incident. Martinez’s criminal matter is titled State of New Mexico v. Ryan David Martinez, Case Number M-43-FR-202300421. Records are available on caselookup.nmcourts.gov. As of Monday morning, they did not show a name for his attorney.
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