Republican who lost N.M. election arrested in shootings at Democrats’ homes
A failed Republican candidate paid $500 to four men to shoot at the homes of Democratic lawmakers, but was so unsatisfied with the shooters’ work that he went along for the final drive-by, his gun jamming as bullets ripped into the bedroom of a sleeping 10-year-old girl, police said.
The criminal complaint against Solomon Peña, a 39-year-old felon and self-proclaimed “MAGA king,” describes how anger over his landslide defeat in November led to attacks at the homes of four Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico’s largest city. A SWAT team arrested him Monday evening, police said.
“This type of radicalism is a threat to our nation and has made its way to our doorstep right here in Albuquerque, New Mexico,” Mayor Tim Keller said. “But I know we are going to push back, and we will not allow this to cross the threshold.”
Peña was a Republican candidate in the general election race in November for New Mexico House District 14. He lost to Democrat Miguel Garcia by 3,600 votes but denied the election results publicly on his Twitter account. Police said Peña was accused of paying others to shoot into the homes of politicians and was believed to have pulled the trigger himself during one of the shootings.
“After the election in November, Solomon Peña reached out and contracted someone — for (an) amount of cash money — to commit at least two of these shootings,” Deputy Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock said in a news conference Monday evening. “The evidence that we have is not only firearm, but it’s also from cellphones, electronic records, surveillance video and multiple witnesses inside and outside of this con
spiracy.”
Peña has an initial court appearance today on charges including multiple counts of shooting at a home and shooting from a motor vehicle, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Peña was arrested Monday afternoon after a standoff with a police SWAT team after a search warrant was issued at his residence, officials said.
The criminal complaint, which includes testimony from a confidential witness who said he had “personal and intimate knowledge of the crimes” and was present at most of the attacks, says Peña hired a father and son with criminal histories of their own as well as two brothers whom authorities have yet to identify. In one of their text messages, Peña complained that officials certifying the election in November “sold us out to the highest bidder.”
The shootings began Dec. 4, when eight rounds were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa. Days later, state Rep. Javier Martinez’s home was targeted. On Dec. 11, more than a dozen rounds were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O’malley, police said.
The final related shooting, targeting state Sen. Linda Lopez’s home, unfolded in the midnight hour of Jan. 3. Police said more than a dozen shots were fired, including three that Lopez said passed through the bedroom of her sleeping 10-yearold daughter.
The witness said one of the men told the shooters to aim above the windows to avoid striking anyone inside, but that wasn’t enough for Peña, who wanted them to shoot lower. He said Peña was there at the Lopez shooting “to ensure better target acquisition.”
The witness said Peña’s gun jammed and did not fire correctly but one of the other men fired multiple rounds from a Glock pistol into the Lopez home.
Peña’s insistence that the men be more aggressive made the other participants uneasy “since they knew that doing so would likely end in death or injury,” said the witness, who faces criminal charges and has asked for leniency. Authorities said no such promises have been made.
A lawyer for Peña who could comment on the allegations wasn’t listed Tuesday in court records.
Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said Peña had visited some of the targets at their homes prior to the shootings, contesting the results of his race.
“They all expressed that they were puzzled and surprised,” Gallegos said. “One (encounter) actually led to quite an argument, I believe. So, I think that plays into some of this, but it was shortly after that when the shootings occurred.”
Technology that can detect the sound of gunfire led an officer to Lopez’s neighborhood shortly after the shots were fired.
Officials said a man named Jose Trujillo was stopped by Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies 40 minutes after the Jan. 3 shooting at Lopez’s home and alleged he was involved in the shooting.
Gallegos said hundreds of fentanyl pills and cash were found in Trujillo’s car during the traffic stop.
The Albuquerque Police Department is still investigating whether Trujillo and three other men believed to have been involved in the conspiracy, aside from Peña, were aware of whose homes they were shooting at or if they fulfilled the contracts without knowing, Hartsock said.
Shell casings from Lopez’s home were tested at the Albuquerque Police Department’s crime lab, the release said, “resulting in a match to a handgun that was confiscated during a traffic stop 40 minutes after the shooting at Lopez’s home, and four miles from her home.”
The Nissan Maxima Trujillo was driving during the stop was registered to Peña, the according to the release. Trujillo was arrested on a felony warrant.
“At the time of the shooting at Lopez’s home, (detectives) were already investigating the shootings reported in December,” the release said. “A casing located at the home of House Speaker Martinez matched a casing located in a stolen vehicle. Another casing found in a separate stolen vehicle matched a casing from the shooting at Commissioner Barboa’s home. Detectives determined the men who were paid by Peña were stealing vehicles to use for the shootings.”
Peña, who has voiced support for former President Donald Trump in Twitter posts and called himself “the MAGA king,” previously was convicted of 19 felonies, including burglary, larceny, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and receiving stolen property. He spent almost seven years in prison.
Keller condemned Peña’s alleged efforts as fundamentally terrifying to the politicians targeted, and to democracy itself.
“At the end of the day, this was about a right wing radical. An election denier was arrested today, and someone who did the worst imaginable thing you can do if you’re having a political disagreement,” Keller said at Monday’s news conference. “Disagreements take place ... but that should never, ever, lead to violence.”
The shooting spree was “scary, not just from my personal perspective, but the fact that our democratic processes that we believed so much in — and that our country was founded on — would be targeted in that way,” Martinez, the Democratic lawmaker, said at a news conference on his first day as the top-ranked House leader.
“It’s long overdue that we lower the temperature. These are the things that can happen when the rhetoric gets out of hand,” Martínez said.
Lawmakers in the Democratic-run state have been careful over the years not to infringe on the right to bear arms. In Albuquerque, authorities have been struggling to address escalating gun violence and consecutive years of record homicides.
House Minority Leader Ryan Lane of Aztec released a statement on Peña’s arrest shortly after the news conference.
“New Mexico House Republicans condemn violence in any form and are grateful no one was injured. This is yet another example of a convicted felon unlawfully gaining access to firearms, which they are barred from owning or possessing, and using the weapon in a manner that causes public harm,” Lane wrote.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also issued a statement on Peña’s arrest.
“There is no place in our society or our democracy for violence against any elected official or their families, and I trust the justice system will hold those responsible for such attacks to full and fair account,” Lujan Grisham said.