{"id":33646,"date":"2023-06-01T16:57:18","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T22:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ex-gop-candidate-indicted-in-connection-with-shootings-at-lawmakers-homes\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:11:51","slug":"ex-gop-candidate-indicted-in-connection-with-shootings-at-lawmakers-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ex-gop-candidate-indicted-in-connection-with-shootings-at-lawmakers-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-GOP candidate indicted in connection with shootings at lawmakers\u2019 homes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Solomon
Solomon Pe\u00f1a, center, a Republican candidate for New Mexico House District 14, is taken into custody by Albuquerque, New Mexico, police officers, Jan. 16 in southwest Albuquerque. Pe\u00f1a has been indicted on federal charges including interference with the electoral process in connection with a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque, according to a grand jury indictment that was unsealed Wednesday. (Roberto E. Rosales\/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, File)<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

SANTA FE, N.M. \u2013 A failed political candidate has been indicted on federal charges including election interference in connection with a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque, according to a grand jury indictment that was unsealed Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque takes aim at former Republican candidate Solomon Pe\u00f1a and two alleged accomplices with additional conspiracy and weapons-related charges in connection with the shootings in December 2022 and January of this year on the homes of four Democratic officials, including the current state House speaker.<\/p>\n

The attacks came amid a surge of threats and acts of intimidation against election workers and public officials across the country after former President Donald Trump and his allies spread false claims about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n

U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez highlighted that the shootings targeted the homes of two county commissioners shortly after their certification of the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

\u201cPe\u00f1a targeted several of these public officials because, in their official capacity, they certified the election, which he lost,\u201d Uballez said at a news conference. \u201cIn America, voters pick their leaders and would-be leaders don\u2019t get to pick which voters they heed, which rules apply to them, or which laws to follow.\u201d<\/div>\n

\u201cPe\u00f1a targeted several of these public officials because, in their official capacity, they certified the election, which he lost,\u201d Uballez said at a news conference. \u201cIn America, voters pick their leaders and would-be leaders don\u2019t get to pick which voters they heed, which rules apply to them, or which laws to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one was injured in the shootings. But in one case, bullets passed through the bedroom of a state senator\u2019s 10-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n

The new indictment outlines smartphone communications including text messages by Pe\u00f1a in the days following the Nov. 8 election that pinpoint the locations of officials\u2019 homes, allege election-rigging and confide to a politically ally about plans to \u201cpress the attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Text messages in the indictment show the 40-year-old candidate bristling with outrage as Bernalillo County commissions certified the results of the midterm election and his own overwhelming defeat as candidate for a seat in the state House of Representatives. Federal authorities say Pe\u00f1a hired others to conduct the shootings and carried out at least one shooting himself.<\/p>\n

Hours before the first shooting on Dec. 4, Pe\u00f1a texted a Republican political ally, who also lost a bid for state representative, to say that \u201cwe have to act. I\u2019m continuing my study of election rigging. The enemy will eventually break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid the shootings, Pe\u00f1a later texted one of several unnamed conspirators in the indictment to say, \u201cIt is our duty as Statesmen and Patriots, to stop the oligarchs from taking over our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Honce, a defense attorney for Pe\u00f1a, said her client maintains his innocence. Pe\u00f1a has been held without bail since his January arrest on charges in state district court related to the shootings. Those charges will be dismissed in deference to the federal indictment as Pe\u00f1a is transferred to federal custody, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Federal charges were also filed against 22-year-old Jose Louise Trujillo and 41-year-old Demetrio Trujillo on allegations that they assisted Pe\u00f1a in obtaining vehicles and firearms \u2013 and that they \u201cpulled the trigger themselves to fire bullets into the homes of the victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jose Trujillo was arrested in January on an outstanding warrant in a car with a stash of more than 800 fentanyl pills and two firearms, leading to a break in the investigation as officers traced at least one gun to bullet casings found the same day at one of the shootings. Authorities say Demetrio Trujillo was arrested Wednesday, while they declined to comment directly on whether several unnamed accomplices in the indictment would be charged.<\/p>\n

John Anderson, an attorney for Jose Trujillo, declined to comment on the indictment when contacted Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Police have described Pe\u00f1a as the instigator of a politically motivated conspiracy leading to shootings at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators. Charges against the three defendants include the use of an automatic weapon.<\/p>\n

The shootings began Dec. 4, when eight rounds were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa. Days later, state Rep. Javier Mart\u00ednez\u2019s home was targeted. On Dec. 11, more than a dozen rounds were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O\u2019Malley, police said. Mart\u00ednez became the Democratic state House speaker in January.<\/p>\n

The final related shooting, targeting state Sen. Linda Lopez\u2019s 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 daughter.<\/p>\n

Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New Mexico secretary of state, said she was \u201cpleased to see the federal government pursuing this case with the seriousness it deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the shootings, New Mexico state lawmakers this year enacted legislation that provides felony sanctions for intimidation of election regulators and allows some public officials and political candidates to keep their home address off government websites.<\/p>\n

Recent assaults on politicians or their households include the hammer-wielding attack on the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in October 2022 at the couple\u2019s San Francisco home. In July 2022, a man clutching a pointed weapon assaulted Republican candidate for New York governor Lee Zeldin \u2013 a congressman at the time \u2013 on stage at a speaking event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Solomon Pe\u00f1a was defeated in his bid midterm election bid for New Mexico House of Representatives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2786,133,168,266,150,28,138,774,390],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-33646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-candidates","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-election","tag-firearms","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico","tag-political-candidates","tag-shooting"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82283,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33646\/revisions\/82283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33646"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=33646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}