ALBUQUERQUE – A New Mexico judge ruled Monday that a man who opened fire after a fight broke out as protesters tried to tear down a statue of a Spanish conquistador will be released pending trial on charges of battery and unlawful carrying of a firearm.
The decision came during a detention hearing for Steven Ray Baca, 31. As part of the release conditions, Judge Charles Brown ordered Baca to not attend any protests, nor have contact with any witnesses or carry a firearm.
The charges stem from interactions with three unidentified women during a June 15 protest in Albuquerque. Prosecutors have not filed charges related the shooting that injured one man, saying the investigation is ongoing.
Baca’s attorney had pressed for him to be released, saying his client was forced to defend himself after protesters attacked him and chased him.
Baca, once a city council candidate, had been among those trying to protect the statue of Juan de Oñate outside a city museum. His attorney has pointed to video showing one protester hitting Baca with a skateboard, while there were shouts in the crowd to “kill him” before he was tackled and struck and then confronted by another protester who the attorney said was wielding a knife.
Video taken moments earlier showed Baca throwing a woman to the ground after she positioned herself in front of him and began backing into him and blocking him with outstretched arms.
Albuquerque police have been criticized for how they responded to the violence, with many saying they should have stepped in sooner. It took units that were staged nearby between three and four minutes to respond after the gunshots rang out.
Police said Monday they were monitoring the events and there were no immediate threats of physical violence reported until the shooting. They pointed to 23 calls that came into emergency dispatchers that night, with all but eight of those coming after the shooting.
They also released body camera video of officers arriving and trying to push the crowd back to put more space between the demonstrators, a group of armed men who had been taken into custody and a cache of weapons that police collected at the scene.
Police also said they deployed smoke canisters – but no tear gas – in an effort to clear the crowd. Officers also fired seven sponge-tipped rounds that are about the size of a golf ball.
Deputy Police Chief Harold Medina said authorities were trying to avoid exacerbating the situation by having uniformed officers on the scene early and that emotions have been running high as the country deals with “difficult conversations” about equality.
“Law enforcement is at the center of these conversations and we need to balance our response and understand that our response not just affects the situation at hand but our relations to the community for years to come,” he said, acknowledging the police department’s history with excessive force.
The debate over what to do with the Oñate statue and other Spanish representations across New Mexico is the latest manifestation of the national wave to bring down monuments and other historical markers deemed to be offensive as protesters push for officials to address racial inequities.
In Santa Fe, the mayor has revived a commission to review historical markers. One group has started a petition seeking to protect those monuments that have been targeted.
In Albuquerque, the city’s Cultural Services Department reissued its call for the community to participate in deciding the future of the Oñate statue. A piece of the city’s public art collection, the statue is temporarily being held in storage after it was removed last week following the protest.
