Albuquerque police arrested Solomon Peña, a loser in his 2022 run for state House District 14, for allegedly paying and conspiring with four men to shoot at the homes of two state legislators and two county commissioners and trying to participate in at least one of the shootings. 

 "APD (Albuquerque Police Department) has arrested Solomon Peña for the recent shootings at local lawmakers’ homes," Police Chief Harold Medina said Jan. 16 on Twitter. 

Gunshots were fired into the homes of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa on Dec. 4; incoming state House Speaker Javier Martinez on Dec. 8; then-Bernalillo Commissioner Debbie O’Malley on Dec. 11; and state Sen. Linda Lopez on Jan. 3, police said in a news release. 

Though no one was injured in the December and January shootings, police said Peña “intended to (cause) serious injury or cause death to occupants inside their homes,” according to an arrest warrant.

“There is probable cause to believe that soon after his unsuccessful (political) campaign, he conspired … to commit these four shootings” at the officials’ homes, the affidavit reads.

Peña, a Republican, claimed election fraud after his defeat in November. Before the shootings, he appeared uninvited at the home of the county commissioners and at least one of the legislators to allege that the election results were fraudulent, police and officials said.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said an investigation confirmed the shootings were politically motivated.

"Thank you to APD (Albuquerque Police Department) and our partners in law enforcement for working around the clock to investigate these crimes and ultimately arrest a dangerous criminal," Keller said in a news release. "This type of radicalism is a threat to our nation and has made its way to our doorstep right here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but we will continue will push back against hate. Differences of opinion are fundamental to democracy, but disagreements should never lead to violence."  

Barboa, whose home was the site of the first shooting, is thankful for the arrest. “I’m relieved to hear that people won’t be targeted in this way by him any longer,” she told “CNN This Morning” on Tuesday.

It’s unclear whether those who committed the shootings were aware of the identity of the targets, according to APD Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock. 

According to the police warrant, Peña was arrested on charges of felon in possession of a firearm; attempted aggravated battery with a deadly weapon; criminal solicitation; and four counts each of shooting at an occupied dwelling, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and conspiracy, according to a warrant.

“Charges are expected to be filed for the other men who participated in the shootings,” the police news release said.

Peña was allowed to run for election despite serving approximately seven years in prison after a 2008 conviction for stealing a large volume of goods in a “smash and grab scheme,” the KOAT report said.

“You can’t hide from your own history,” Peña told the outlet in September. “I had nothing more than a desire to improve my lot in life.”

His Democratic state Rep. Miguel Garcia had sued to have Peña removed from the ballot on the grounds that an ex-felon should not be able to run for public office in the state. A district court judge allowed Peña to run in the election where he was soundly defeated with Garcia getting 74% of the vote compared to 26% for Pena.  Instead of conceding, Peña alleged voter fraud.

Peña tried to visit some of the officials before any of the shootings. He went to Barboa’s home uninvited to claim the results were fraudulent, Barboa told CNN.

“He came to my house after the election. … He was saying that the elections were fake … really speaking erratically,” Barboa said. “I didn’t feel threatened at the time, but I did feel like he was erratic.”

Approximately eight gunshots were fired at Barboa’s house and a parked vehicle on the afternoon of Dec. 4, police said. Barboa said she saw the gunshots after returning from Christmas shopping.

“My house had four shots through the front door and windows, where just hours before my grandbaby and I were playing in the living room,” Barboa said in a statement. “Processing this attack continues to be incredibly heavy, especially knowing that other women and people of color elected officials, with children and grandbabies, were targeted.”

Police said after the election in November, Peña contracted someone for an amount of cash money to commit at least two of the shootings. “The addresses of the shootings were communicated over phone,” Hartsock said. “Within hours, in one case, the shooting took place at the lawmaker’s home.”

Firearm evidence, surveillance video, cell phone and electronic records and witnesses in and around the conspiracy aided the investigation and helped officials connect five people to this conspiracy, Hartsock said.

Ring doorbell camera footage recorded at O’Malley’s previous residence and obtained by CNN shows him approaching the door and knocking, holding documents in his hands.

The current resident told him through the camera’s speaker that O’Malley no longer lived at that residence and directed him to her new home. Lopez, the state senator whose home was shot at on Jan. 3, also told detectives that Peña had showed up uninvited at her home after the election.

In her state of the state address Tuesday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called the shootings “despicable acts of political violence” and thanked law enforcement for working “quickly and tirelessly to apprehend every single suspect in these heinous attacks.”