Ex-GOP candidate detained over shootings at US lawmakers' homes

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
17 Jan 08:45

Solomon Pena, 39, is accused of conspiring with and paying four other men to shoot at the homes" of four Democratic politicians.

Solomon Pena, center, a Republican candidate for New Mexico House District 14, is taken into custody, on Jan. 16, 2023. (AP)

A former Republican candidate for New Mexico's state legislature has been detained and charged with bribing gunmen to shoot up the houses of four Democratic legislators, as per local police reports.

Solomon Pena, who lost the race for a House seat in the US state, "is accused of conspiring with, and paying four other men to shoot at the homes" of four Democratic politicians, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said in a tweet.

According to CBS News, Pena was arrested following a brief confrontation with a SWAT squad at his residence in the city's southwest.

Pena is reportedly accused of planning the shootings, which occurred over a period of many weeks and targeted the residences of two county commissioners and two state senators.

It is worth noting that no one was injured in the shootings.

"It is believed that he is the mastermind behind this, and was the one who organized this," Medina told journalists Monday evening.

Gunmen opened fire on the properties between December 4 and January 3, police reported.

Shots rang out at the home of a Democratic state lawmaker, Linda Lopez, on January 3, and three bullets pierced her 10-year-old daughter's bedroom window while she slept.

A police spokesperson, Gilbert Gallegos, said as quoted by AFP that Pena believed he lost last November's election to an incumbent due to fraud.

"He had complaints about his election he felt being rigged," Gallegos said, as per NBC News.

Albuquerque police said they expected to charge other males who were allegedly bribed to carry out the shootings.