Another suspect ID’d in obelisk’s destruction

SANTA FE — Another person has been charged for their involvement in the destruction of the 152-year-old Soldiers’ Monument during an Indigenous Peoples Day rally in Santa Fe on Oct. 12.

Santa Fe police identified Zak Young, 26, and charged him with criminal damage to property, conspiracy to commit criminal damage, unlawful assembly, criminal trespass and resisting, evading or obstructing an officer. Young hasn’t been arrested by police at this time and will be issued a summons to appear in Magistrate Court.

In the days leading up to the rally, Young was one of the two individuals who chained themselves to the obelisk that stood at the center of Santa Fe’s historic Plaza. He identified himself as “Red” to reporters.

On the day of the monument was toppled, Young climbed up the obelisk and wrapped chains and cargo straps around it to pull it down.

Santa Fe Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who has information that leads to the arrest or prosecution of people involved with the obelisk’s destruction.