A man earlier pictured wearing a Maga hat has been arrested in New Mexico for shooting a protester during a demonstration against a controversial statue of a Spanish conquistador.

Rio Arriba County sheriff’s officials said Ryan Martinez, 23, was taken into custody in connection with the shooting, which took place outside county offices in the city of Española, according to the Associated Press.

Pictures showed a man brandishing a firearm. The same man was earlier wearing a red hat bearing the words “Make America Great Again”.

The wounded man was reportedly shot in the upper torso and taken to a nearby hospital, though no further details were made immediately available by officials. The victim had identified himself as Native American to a photographer from The Albuquerque Journal shortly before the incident.

Authorities said that a motive for the shooting was unclear.

According to local outlets, the incident occurred after protesters had gathered and lingered after the installation of a monument depicting Juan de Oñate was cancelled.

Footage online showed a struggle between protesters and the man wearing the Maga hat, who then fell over a barricade, produced a gun and fired, causing those gathered to scatter.

The incident is the second shooting at a protest over the Oñate statue, the first of which occurred in June 2020 outside the Alburquerque Museum, in Albuquerque, when demonstrators attempted to tear it down.

A confrontation had erupted between protesters and a group of armed men who were trying to protect the bronze monument. Protesters then wrapped a chain around it and tugged repeatedly on it.

Oñate, who arrived in present-day New Mexico in 1598, ihas divided opinion among communuties– celebrated by some as a cultural father figure, but condemned by others for his brutality.

To Native Americans, Oñate is known for having ordered the right feet cut off of 24 captive tribal warriors after his soldiers stormed the Acoma Pueblo’s mesa-top “sky city.” That attack was precipitated by the killing of Onate’s nephew.

In 1998, someone sawed the right foot off the statue.

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