Man shot in New Mexico protest over sculpture

Man shot in New Mexico protest over sculpture

[NFA] Activists blamed members of a heavily-armed volunteer militia for instigating violence after demonstrators tried to pull down an Albuquerque monument.

This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

A man was shot and wounded during a protest in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, where demonstrators tried to tear down a statue of a 16th Century Spanish conquistador.

Cell-phone video shared with Reuters shows a crowd gathered, and then a man in a blue shirt is seemingly hit with a skate board, shoved and told to leave.

Then the gunshots ring out.

The Albuquerque Journal reported the shooting erupted during a clash between protesters and heavily armed members of a volunteer militia group called the New Mexico Civil Guard.

Video from after the shooting shows several men apparently under arrest, and a voice blames members of the New Mexico Civil Guard for the shooting.

Albuquerque's police chief said in a statement he'd received reports about vigilante groups possibly instigating the violence.

APD said on twitter that the shooting victim was in critical but stable condition.

The Washington Post reported that activists had wrapped a chain around a sculpture called La Jornada, depicting the Spaniard Juan de Onate leading settlers in what is now New Mexico.

Do Onate is known for massacring a pueblo tribe in the year 1599.

Albuquerque police said the FBI is currently assisting in an investigation of the shooting.