Albuquerque police announced Monday the arrest of an unsuccessful candidate for state legislature in a series of shootings at locations associated with high-profile Democratic leaders.
Republican Solomon Peña is accused of conspiring and paying four men to carry out four shootings at the homes of two Bernalillo County commissioners and two state legislators.
Two other shootings believed to be related to the case have so far not been linked to the suspect, police said at a news conference Monday night.
On January 9, police announced the arrest of another suspect in the case, saying he took possession of a firearm possibly used in one of the shootings.
But on Monday, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina described Peña as the initiator of the shootings.
«He is believed to be the mastermind behind this,» he told a news conference on Monday.
Pena was arrested by a SWAT team in the Albuquerque area on Monday, the chief said. Ballistic evidence from one of the shootings linked the case to the suspect, Medina said.
One of those not related to the arrest was a Jan. 5 report of shots fired outside the downtown law offices of newly appointed state Sen. Moe Maestas, police said.
It was not clear if the suspect has retained a lawyer for the case. There was no response to a query sent through his campaign site. A company associated with Pena did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He Albuquerque Journal describes the suspect as an unsuccessful candidate for New Mexico House District 14, which represents the South Valley of the Albuquerque area.
The publication reported during his campaign last year that Peña has a criminal record. He served nearly seven years in prison for robbery, he said.
The shootings included a Dec. 4 incident when eight rounds were fired in the direction of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa’s home in southeast Albuquerque, police said.
Also in early December, the home of the incoming state house chairman, Rep. Javier Martinez, was believed to have been the target of the same series of attacks. Police, however, did not describe the incident as one related to the arrest.
Other shootings originally related to the attacks include a Dec. 10 incident at the former campaign office of Raúl Torrez, New Mexico’s newly elected attorney general; a Dec. 11 incident that included more than a dozen shots fired at the home of former County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley; and a January 3 report of eight shots fired at the home of New Mexico Senator Linda Lopez.
Andres Blankstein, cute takahashi Y lindsey pipia contributed.