Solomon Peña, a defeated candidate for the state House of Representatives, is accused of leading the Albuquerque attacks on two county commissioners and two state legislators after he visited their homes to contest his election loss of November, said the police.
Peña, described as a “radical right-wing election denier” by Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, was arrested on Monday.
No one was injured in the shootings, which followed heated arguments in which Peña showed officials paperwork to back up claims of fraud in the race he lost by 47 percentage points.
In a Jan. 3 attack on the row house of State Sen. Linda Lopez, the lawmaker’s 10-year-old daughter woke up and felt dust fall on her face as the bullets passed through -her bedroom wall, a criminal complaint said.
“Solomon wanted them to aim lower and shoot at around 8 in the evening because the occupants would probably not be lying down,” the complaint said, citing an unnamed source.
The gunmen aimed high in three previous attacks and were “nervous” about the instructions as they were more likely to end in “injury or death,” the filing said.
The Police said that one assailant is cooperating with the investigators.
Peña took part in the shooting of Lopez to “ensure better target acquisition,” but his armalite rifle jammed and alleged gunman Jose Trujillo fired 12 shots from a pistol, the complaint said.
Peña was previously convicted of 19 felonies, including theft, and was jailed for about seven years, according to the New Mexican of Santa Fe.
On November 15 he posted a photo of himself on Twitter with a “Make America Great Again” sweatshirt, a “Trump 2024” flag, and a message that he, like former President Donald Trump, was not conceding his election.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Leslie Adler)
By Andrew Hay
