Police arrest failed candidate in shootings at Dems in N.M.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A 39-year-old felon who overwhelmingly lost a bid for the New Mexico statehouse as a Republican paid for four men to shoot at Democratic lawmakers’ homes in recent months, including one house where a 10-year-old girl was asleep, police said.
The case against Solomon Pena, who had posted photos of himself online with Donald Trump campaign material, is one of dozens across the United States where people have threatened, and in some cases attempted to carry out, violence against members of Congress, school board members and other election officials. In Kansas, a trial began this week for a man who prosecutors say threatened to kill a congressman.
Officials accuse Pena of paying $500 to four men to shoot at the homes of Democratic lawmakers.
He went along for the final drive-by, his gun jamming as bullets ripped into the bedroom of the girl, police said.
The criminal complaint against the 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 afternoon, police said.
Pena spent nine years behind bars after his arrest in April 2007 for stealing electronics and other goods from several retail stores as part of what authorities described as a burglary crew. He was released from prison in March 2016, and had his voting rights restored after completing five years probation in April 2021, corrections officials said.
Pena ran unsuccessfully in November against incumbent state Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, the longtime Democrat representing House District 14 in the South Valley. Pena got 26% of the vote.
Pena, whose criminal past came up during the campaign, repeatedly made baseless claims that the election was “rigged” against him. “I dissent. I am the MAGA king,” he posted the day after the election.
On Nov. 15, he posted an image of himself in a “Make America Great Again” hoodie, saying “Trump just announced for 2024. I stand with him. I never conceded my HD 14 race. Now researching my options.”
Pena has an initial court appearance Wednesday 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.
No one was wounded in the drive-by shootings. The New Mexico Republican Party said that: “If Pena is found guilty, he must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Pena’s candidacy was challenged in state district court, with his opponent saying he wasn’t eligible to seek office because he had not been pardoned by the governor, nor did he request to be pardoned. The court sided with Pena, finding that a state law that prohibits a felon from holding public office was unconstitutional. An appeal is pending.
Police said Pena had previously shown up uninvited at the homes of two elected officials with what he claimed were documents proving that he had won his race. There was no evidence of widespread voter fraud, or any irregularity, in New Mexico in 2020 or 2022.
The criminal complaint says that Pena 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, Pena complained that officials certifying the election in November “sold us out to the highest bidder.”