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On June 15th, protesters in Albuquerque, New Mexico attempted to take down a bronze statue of Juan de Oñate, a Spanish conquistador outside the Albuquerque Museum.
There were groups protesting, and attempting to take down the statue, as well as those protesting and attempting to preserve the statue.
After a while, a man in a blue shirt that was protecting a few of the “pro” Oñate statue people began to leave the heated scene of the chaos.
A mob began to follow him to his car and yell in his direction. As they approached, he took out his pepper spray and warned them not to come closer.
They proceeded to advance on him and he discharged the pepper spray.
The crowd kept following him and he warned them again to stay back. Three individuals proceeded to attack him by tackling him, and hitting him in the head with skateboards.
One of the individuals purportedly had a knife in their hand and in apparent self defense the man with the blue shirt shot his handgun four times into him.
https://www.facebook.com/abqraw/videos/578681816407150/
There is a video also showing the shooting.
https://twitter.com/SALIDmag/status/1272962710989307909?s=20
Purportedly, the individuals attacking the man are from Antifa and were allegedly attempting to kill him and he was acting in self-defense.
Police identified the man charged in the shooting as a former Albuquerque city council candidate, Steven Ray Baca.
The wounded man, Scott Williams, was listed in critical but stable condition, said Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos.
Following the altercation, Gallegos said police used tear gas and flash bangs to protect the officers who intervened and detained those in a right-wing militia group who may have been involved in the shooting. He said they were disarmed and taken into custody for questioning as police worked to secure the scene. He said detectives were investigating with the help of the FBI.
The militia group, known as the New Mexico Civil Guard said on social media that they took no responsibility for the shooting and that Baca was not their member.
Albuquerque Police Chief Michael Grier said that police were looking into whether the group possibly instigated the shooting.
“If this is true, (we) will be holding them accountable to the fullest extent of the law, including federal hate group designation and prosecution,” the chief added.
“I am horrified and disgusted beyond words,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement condemning the “heavily armed individuals who flaunted themselves at the protest, calling themselves a ‘civil guard.’”
Someone’s been shot. Multiple people calling 911. Chaos. pic.twitter.com/jxNjIvYJuf
— Megan Abundis (@meganrabundis) June 16, 2020
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller expressed concern over the incident.
The shooting tonight was a tragic, outrageous and unacceptable act of violence and it has no place in our city. Our diverse community will not be deterred by acts meant to divide or silence us.
— Mayor Tim Keller (@MayorKeller) June 16, 2020
He also said that the statue would actually be removed.
In order to contain the public safety risk, the City will be removing the statue until the appropriate civic institutions can determine next steps.
— Mayor Tim Keller (@MayorKeller) June 16, 2020
The entire situation is being spun out of proportion being blamed on “vigilante groups” when the video clearly shows a group of alleged Antifa members attacking a man who reportedly attempted to simply protect a monument that testified to a part of history.
https://t.co/yWP28pYgAA https://t.co/9DjlQKyMyd
— Mayor Tim Keller (@MayorKeller) June 16, 2020
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
everyone gangsta till good guys start to shoot
At the moment one of those terrorists gets shot they cry for the police… What a poetic justice!!!
Pathedic,that about sums up the level of cowardness you get from these vermin mob!
These are the deplorables: