A former Republican candidate accused of orchestrating attacks on the homes of Democratic opponents cited the need to threaten “civil war” to achieve political change, according to police investigators. According to them, a bullet fired in the attacks passed very close to a sleeping girl, leaving her face speckled with dust.
The series of shootings after the November US election followed other politically motivated violence across the country in recent months – including an attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – and rocked the nation. political establishment in New Mexico, where Democrats hold both houses of the legislature and the governorship.
After running for a state legislature seat, Solomon Peña, 39, a Donald Trump supporter who attended the Washington rally on Jan. percentage points for the incumbent in a district that has long voted Democratic. He was arrested on Monday (16) in connection with the shootings at the homes of four Democratic officials, formally charged on Tuesday (17) and is expected to undergo a custody hearing on Wednesday (18).
“He believed he was cheated,” Albuquerque Police Department Chief Harold Medina said in an interview Tuesday. Police brought a number of charges against Peña, including incitement to crime, attempted aggravated assault, shooting in an occupied residence, shooting from a moving vehicle, and conspiracy.
Peña, who has already served a prison sentence for robbery and other crimes, personally participated in at least one of the attacks, according to the criminal complaint in the case, attempting to fire an AR-15 rifle at the home of Linda Lopez, a state senator from the Democratic Party.
“His actions and the impact they could have on our democracy are very concerning to me,” Medina said. “He was trying to intimidate some of our elected officials.” Peña, who was still detained, could not be reached for comment, and it was unclear whether a lawyer was representing him in the case.
It is unknown how he became the only Republican candidate to run for a state legislative seat representing part of Albuquerque. But when Democrats unsuccessfully tried to disqualify him from running, citing his criminal record, the Republican leadership spokesman in the state House came to Peña’s defense, insisting that he should be allowed to run. He received 26% of the vote to his opponent’s 74%, the election results showed.
In a statement, the New Mexico Republican Party said, “These recent allegations against Solomon Peña are serious and he must be held accountable if the charges are upheld in court. We are grateful that no one was hurt by his actions. If Peña is found guilty, , he must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”.
Peña’s arrest comes as concerns about political violence rise after several high-profile incidents, including the attack on Paul Pelosi, a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and stalking charges filed against a man at the Seattle home of Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington state.
While there have been some attacks and threats of violence by people on the left, scholars who study political violence say that most violent episodes with a political slant in recent years have been perpetrated by right-wing extremists or people with conservative leanings.
Peña was in the crowd listening to Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021, according to videos collected by detectives, before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to keep the president in power. There is no evidence, however, that Peña entered with the crowd into any restricted area on the Capitol grounds or building that day.
Peña served nearly seven years in prison in New Mexico on burglary and larceny charges. After being released in 2016, he earned a degree in political science from the University of New Mexico.
The attacks that appeared to target Democratic officials began on Dec. 4, when someone fired eight shots at the home of Adriann Barboa, a Bernalillo County Commissioner, according to Albuquerque police. On December 8, shots were fired at the home of State Representative Javier Martinez. Three days later, on December 11, another attack targeted the home of another Bernalillo County Commissioner, Debbie O’Malley. Then came the shootings at Lopez’s home in early January.
Lopez’s 10-year-old daughter told her mother after the attack that she thought she had been woken up by a spider crawling across her face. But the next morning, Lopez found bullet holes in his home. “As it turned out, plaster dust fell on Linda’s daughter’s face and bed” due to a bullet that passed through her room above her head, says the police complaint.
Investigators said in a statement after Peña’s arrest on Monday that they linked him to the men accused of carrying out the shootings through text messages he sent “with addresses where he wanted them to shoot at houses,” in addition to the money he paid them.
In a text message Peña sent to one of the accused shooters in November, according to the criminal complaint, he highlighted a cryptic passage from a book that investigators were unaware of.
“It was only the added incentive of a threat of civil war that authorized a president to complete the reformist project.” This quote appears in the book “Stuffing the Ballot Box” [enchendo a urna, em tradução livre]a 2002 academic study on electoral fraud and reform in Costa Rica.
The thesis that civil war is inevitable in the United States or must be fought to protect conservative values ​​has been a frequent rallying cry from the right in recent months, if not years.
Barboa, the county commissioner whose home was targeted in the first attack, said in an interview that Peña went to her home after the election to argue that the election had been fraudulent. “He was aggressive and seemed to be acting erratically. Claimed there was no way he could have been beaten despite losing by a landslide.”
Barboa said Peña appeared to have visited his home, as well as O’Malley’s, which has also been targeted because the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners certifies election results. Peña ran against another Democrat, Miguel Garcia, who does not appear to have been attacked.
Medina of the Albuquerque Police said Peña could face more charges as police continue their investigation. “We continue to peel layers, like an onion.”
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
