Man shot at 2023 statue protest in Española sues Rio Arriba County officials

Jacob Johns, the Native American artist and activist shot at a 2023 protest in Española, is taking Rio Arriba County officials to court alleging they failed to ensure public safety at a demonstration over a monument to Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate.

Johns, 41, was shot in the abdomen by Ryan Martinez on Sept. 28, 2023, during a gathering outside the county annex building, where participants engaged in prayers and speeches celebrating the postponement of plans to install the statue there.

The gunshot followed a scuffle with Martinez, a Sandia Park man wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat who hopped a wall and approached an altar set up for prayers by Native American presenters. After Johns helped block Martinez’s path, Martinez withdrew, then pulled a handgun from his waistband and fired a single shot, striking Johns in the stomach, before driving away.

Martinez later pleaded no contest to aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault and was sentenced to four years in prison.

The shooting took place in view of the crowd, including news reporters, and was documented in photographs and video.

Rio Arriba Sheriff’s deputies, however, had left the scene, despite having confronted Martinez over his erratic and aggressive behavior, Johns’ complaint states. After one deputy asked Martinez to leave the demonstration, the lawsuit alleges an unnamed undersheriff overruled the deputy and told Martinez he could stay.

After that, deputies left the scene, and the demonstration continued with no law enforcement officers present.

Johns argues — based on deputies’ interactions with Martinez, written communications between Martinez and county officials prior to the event, and even the county’s decision to postpone its event because of a danger of violence — that county officials violated his civil rights and failed to ensure public safety. The lawsuit filed in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe seeks compensatory damages and other relief.

Another demonstrator Martinez had threatened with his gun, Malaya Corrine Peixinho, separately filed a similar lawsuit of her own Monday.

Johns’ lawsuit names the Rio Arriba County commissioners, county manager, the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office and the recently-deceased Sheriff Billy Merrifield in the lawsuit.

None of the defendants responded to queries from the Journal for this story. Merrifield was found dead in his patrol unit outside his Abiquiú Reservoir home on Easter Sunday. A toxicology report released this week attributed his death to “toxic effects of fentanyl and ethanol.”

The Oñate statue had been removed from its original display in Alcalde in 2020, during a nationwide movement challenging the presence of public monuments to historical figures associated with colonial violence or the Civil War confederacy. Rio Arriba County officials had planned to reinstall the statue at the county’s Española annex, but canceled at the last minute following a warning from Merrifield about potential violence.

Johns joined a group of demonstrators planning to celebrate the cancellation of an installation ceremony.

Johns’ lawsuit states that he nearly died, and was revived, while being airlifted from a local hospital to University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque. Over five weeks in the hospital, Johns says he underwent several surgeries to remove his destroyed spleen and repair severe damage to his lungs, liver, pancreas and stomach, before returning home to Spokane, Washington, to continue a long and painful recovery.