Charges have been dropped for a man accused of shooting ANTIFA members outside of a monument protest earlier this week after it was discovered that one or more of the far-left rioters likely had a knife as they were coming at the alleged assailant.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Raúl Torrez criticized the police investigation into the incident when he made the announcement. Cops were missing in action at the scene, but militia members showed up in an attempt to stop rioters from toppling the statue of Juan de Onate, a prominent Spanish conquistador.

Torrez dropped the charge of initial aggravated battery with a deadly weapon against 31-year-old Steven Baca after images went viral that appeared to show 39-year-old leftist agitator Scott Williams coming at him with a knife. Torrez believes that Baca would claim self-defense due to the circumstances and says that a further investigation is needed before shooting charges can be levied.

“There have been rumors on social media about what transpired in the final seconds before this and we are actively looking into those and whether or not this was justified,” Torrez said to an online press briefing. “The reason he is not facing that charge right now is because this investigation is not complete.”

“Right now I have no evidence to suggest that he was in any way armed,” Torrez said of Williams. “The fact that we haven’t charged it (shooting charge) today doesn’t mean it will not be charged.”

Although he dropped the most serious charge, Torrez has hit Baca with four additional charges including unlawful carrying of a firearm and battery for allegedly committing an assault against three women shortly before the shooting took place. Baca’s lawyer Jason Bowles maintains that his client will plead not guilty to all charges.

With law enforcement hamstrung and not permitted to protect and serve, armed militias have filled the void to protect their nation’s heritage at Black Lives Matter terror rallies. It is not just happening in New Mexico, but elsewhere throughout the country as well.

Big League Politics reported on how patriots gathered by a Confederate monument in Kentucky last week to protect their heritage against the ISIS-style mob:

On Friday evening, a group of armed patriots in Brandenburg, Ky. protected a Confederate statue as a Black Lives Matter mob was expected to gather and potentially deface it.

The mob has made a big deal of the 70 foot Confederate statue, which used to be located on the University of Louisville campus until 2016, as they continue their ongoing cultural genocide. The patriots of Brandenburg showed up to say no more to the ISIS-style movement of destruction…

WDRB reported that certain “business owners boarded up windows in anticipation of possible violence, but law enforcement officers from several agencies had kept the peace, at least through 10 p.m.”

These armed patriots made their stand as the left-wing cultural genocide has swept across America, with black dominance being projected through acts of mayhem nationwide…

While most are willing to roll over to the mob, the armed patriots in Kentucky have shown that they will not budge. This is the type of courage that will be needed across the country to repel the savages and their war against Western Civilization.

The silent majority is slowly but surely waking up and activating against the civilizational threat on our shores. If the authorities won’t put down this subversive neo-Marxist movement, We the People will step up to the plate.