A fundraising page for a Native American activist allegedly shot by a man in Maga hat at a peaceful protest over a controversial statue of a Spanish conquistador has raised almost $225,000.
Jacob Johns, 42, was shot in the chest at the event last Thursday (28 September), which took place in the city of Española, in New Mexico, and was later airlifted to hospital in nearby Albuquerque for surgery.
The alleged shooter – identified by authorities as 23-year-old Ryan Martinez – who was earlier in the day pictured wearing a red Maga hat, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. He appeared in court for the first time on Friday but did not enter a plea.
The incident took place following a protest against the reinstallation of a statue of Juan de Oñate, a controversial figure in the state’s history for his oppressive and brutal treatment of Native Americans during Spain’s conquest of the Southwestern United States.
Martinez was among a group of counter-protesters. Footage showed an altercation breaking out, during which he jumped over a wall, produced a gun and fired.
A GoFundMe page set up to support Mr Johns said he had “put his body between women and children” when Mr Martinez had begun his alleged attack.
According to the page, Mr Johns – who has a teenage daughter – “has dedicated his life to Indigenous and climate justice” and specialises in non-violent, peaceful activism, which he often combines with art.
“This inspirational man has put his life on the line over and over again to make a better world for his fellow humans, and now he and his family need your support to recover from this terrible hate crime,” the page’s description reads.
“As you can imagine, being a climate activist is not lucrative work to readily afford major life-saving surgery. We are humbly requesting your donations to help cover his recovery, his medical bills, and to help support his family needs during what will likely be a very lengthy recovery period.”
A counter demonstrator listens to an attendee during a protest against the reinstallation of a 16th-century New Mexico conquistador statue at the Rio Arriba County building on September 28, 2023 in Espanola, New Mexico— (Getty Images)
As of Wednesday, almost $225,000 had been raised to support Mr Johns with his medical bills.
A statement put out on behalf of Mr Johns’ family said it was “essential” that the incident not be described as “a clash between protestors” in the media.
“For generations, Indigenous Peoples have faced harm, death, and systemic oppression. Last week’s premeditated shooting is just another historical event in a series of systemic injustices in Indigenous history,” the statement read.
“This intentional premeditated act of violence was perpetrated against a peaceful prayer camp located at the proposed site for the reinstallation of the Oñate statue. This draws attention to the lengthy history of injustices against Indigenous Peoples by dehumanizing systems and divisive ideologies the community was protesting.”
It continued: “The family wishes to keep attention on a narrative of unity, not instead of division. It is essential to center the perspectives of all those involved in the spiritual event and those impacted from the violence. The physical, mental, and emotional trauma this has caused to Jacob will be lifelong.
Medical personnel attend to Mr Johns following the shooting in Española— (AP)
“Jacob is not the only victim here. The physical trauma was with Jacob but there are other emotional traumas that were inflicted on the full community including the women, children and elders that were present that day and their stories must be told.”
After entering no plea on Friday, Mr Martinez was transported to a detention center in the Rio Arriba County government seat of Tierra Amarilla. A hearing on possible terms of pretrial detention is scheduled next week.
A pretrial services report showed no prior convictions for Martinez and no prior failures to appear in court.
In their statement, the Johns family also urged the district court judge to keep Martinez in pre-trial custody and to add “federal hate crime” to the list of charges against him.
“This was a racially and culturally motivated hate crime and must be treated as such,” they said.
