CNN —
An unsuccessful Republican candidate for state office in New Mexico, who blamed his defeat on a “rigged” election, has been accused of orchestrating a series of shootings at the homes of elected Democrats.
Solomon Peña, who lost his bid for state House District 14 in 2022, was arrested Monday by Albuquerque police for allegedly paying and conspiring with four men to shoot up the homes of two state legislators and two county commissioners in December and January , authorities said. No one was injured, but investigators said Peña intended to cause serious injury or death.
On December 4, the homes of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adrian Barboa were shot at; incoming Speaker of the House Javier Martinez on December 8; then-Bernalillo Commissioner Debbie O’Malley on Dec. 11; and state Sen. Linda Lopez on Jan. 3, according to police.
CNN reached out to Peña’s campaign website for comment and was unable to identify his attorney.
Here’s what we know about Peña:
After losing the November election and before the recent shootings, Peña approached a lawmaker and some county commissioners at their homes, uninvited, with documents that police said showed vote fraud.
Barbois was one of those employees. Shots were later fired at her home on Dec. 4, police said.
“He came to my house after the election. … He was saying that the election was rigged … irregular indeed. I didn’t feel threatened at the time, but I did feel like I was unstable,” Barbois told “CNN This Morning” on Tuesday.
Peña lost his race to Democratic Rep. Miguel Garcia, 26% to 74%. A week later, he tweeted that he had “never conceded” the race and was exploring his options.
In the mid-November tweet, Peña mentioned former President Donald Trump, whose falsehoods about election results, mainly among Republicans and usually without evidence, have exploded across the country since he lost his re-election bid and began spreading lies about stealing the presidential election in 2020
False allegations of election fraud have sparked anger – and unrelenting threats of violence – against government officials down to the local level.
“Trump just announced 2024,” Peña tweeted. “I stand with him.”
On Dec. 12, Peña responded to a tweet posted by current House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, who wrote: “Violent rebels and extreme MAGA Republicans are melting down over repeated election losses. So they accuse the Democrats of undermining democracy. Get out.”
“I disagree,” Peña tweeted. “The election in New Mexico is absolutely rigged. And we will pursue justice.”
On January 2 and again on January 9, Peña reiterated his claims of election denial and fraud, tweeting that he would “fight until the day I die” and vowing “MAGA nation 4ever!”
A former Peña campaign official said the candidate would punish Republicans he believed did not support Trump, recalling an instance when Peña “called out” another Republican politician for “being anti-Trump.”
Peña faces charges stemming from the four separate shootings.
On December 4, shots were fired at Barbois’ home.
Barbois said she found evidence of the shots after returning from the Christmas market.
“It was terrifying. My house had four gunshots through the front door and windows where just hours before my grandson and I were playing in the living room,” Barbois said in a statement.
“Processing this attack continues to be incredibly difficult, especially knowing that other women and elected officials of color with children and grandchildren have been targeted.”
Barbois said she’s grateful for the arrest in the case, she told CNN This Morning on Tuesday.
“I’m relieved to hear that people will no longer be targeted in this way by him,” she said.
On Dec. 8, a shooting was reported at Martinez’s home.
“I deeply appreciate our Albuquerque Police Department for their hard work during the investigation of these shootings of elected officials. I am grateful that the suspect is in custody and I trust that our justice system will hold those responsible accountable,” Martinez said in a statement.
“We have seen too much political violence recently, and all of these events are a stark reminder that stoking fear, raising tensions and fueling hatred can have devastating consequences.”
O’Malley’s home was attacked on December 11.
“I am very relieved – and so is my family. I’m very appreciative of the work that the police did,” O’Malley told CNN Monday night.
O’Malley and her husband were asleep when more than a dozen shots were fired at her Albuquerque home on Dec. 11, she said.
O’Malley called police to say the adobe fence at her home had been damaged by gunfire. As police investigated, O’Malley mentioned that Peña had been coming to her home a day or two before the incident complaining about the recent election results, the affidavit said.
Doorbell footage recorded at O’Malley’s former residence and obtained by CNN shows Peña outside the door, knocking, documents in hand.
The current resident spoke to him through the camera speaker, telling him that O’Malley no longer lived at that residence and directed him to her new home.
On Jan. 3, Lopez’s home was hit, according to police. At least eight shots were fired at the southwest Albuquerque residence. Police said Peña pulled the trigger on one of the firearms.
“My children and I were woken up by some loud noises. At first I thought it was fireworks,” Lopez told CNN affiliate KOAT. “It’s very scary. You know, as a mother, that’s something you never want to experience.”
Three shots entered her daughter’s bedroom and two were fired into Lopez’s bedroom, KOAT reports.
Lopez told police she “heard loud bangs but dismissed them as fireworks at the time,” according to Peña’s arrest warrant affidavit.
Lopez’s daughter thought there was a spider crawling on her face and there was sand in her bed, the state senator told police. Officers determined that “sheet metal dust was blown onto Linda’s daughter’s face and bed as a result of a firearm projectile(s) traveling into her overhead bedroom,” according to the affidavit.
Investigators found evidence that “Peña himself was involved in this shooting and actually pulled the trigger on at least one of the firearms that were used,” said Albuquerque Police Deputy Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock said.
But an AR gun he tried to use malfunctioned. More than a dozen rounds were fired by another shooter with a separate gun, according to police.
Shell casings at Lopez’s home matched a handgun seized from a silver Nissan Maxima involved in a traffic stop about 40 minutes after the shooting and about 4 miles from the residence, police said.
The Maxima was registered to Peña, although Peña was not driving it when he was stopped, police said.
During the fall campaign, Peña’s opponent, Democratic Rep. Miguel Garcia, filed a lawsuit to remove Peña from the ballot, arguing that Peña’s status as an ex-felon should have prevented him from running for public office in the state. CNN affiliate KOAT reported.
Peña served nearly seven years in prison after being convicted in 2008 of stealing a large amount of merchandise in a “smash and grab scheme,” the KOAT report said.
“You can’t hide from your own history,” Peña told the publication in September. “I had nothing more than a desire to improve my lot in life.”
The Second Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County in September allowed Peña to run for office in part because the state constitution allows a felon to vote.
“In other words, our state constitution provides that if a convicted felon is qualified to vote by meeting all legal requirements to be able to vote, that person is also qualified to hold public office,” court documents state.
Police are now investigating how Peña may have known his alleged co-conspirators – and whether he met one of them while in prison.
Peña was arrested by Albuquerque police on Monday.
“He is believed to be the mastermind” behind the shootings, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina told reporters, referring to the suspect.
An investigation confirmed that “these shootings were indeed politically motivated,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said Monday.
“At the end of the day, this is about a right-wing, election-denying radical who was arrested today and someone who has done the worst thing you can do when you have a political disagreement, which is turn it into violence,” Keller said. a democrat. “We know we don’t always agree with our elected officials, but that should never, ever lead to violence.”
Police are still investigating whether the shooting suspects “even knew who these targets were or were just shooting,” according to Hartsock.
Arrest warrant affidavit for Peña…
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