Albuquerque, October 2 (RHC)-- In the U.S. state of New Mexico, a protest over the reinstallment of a statue of the violent Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate was disrupted over the weekend when a man wearing a red MAGA hat opened fire and shot a Native American protester, who had to be airlifted to a hospital. 

The shooting occurred in the city of Española.  The shooter was taken into custody after he drove away in a white Tesla. 

The 16th century conquistador Juan de Oñate is a controversial figure in New Mexico. In 1599, a year after he became New Mexico’s first colonial governor, he ordered a massacre that killed between 800 and 1,000 Acoma Indigenous people.