Solomon Pena, who misplaced by a 3 to at least one margin in a state consultant race in November, refused to concede his loss.
Police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have arrested a Republican politician who they allege coordinated a collection of gunshot assaults on the houses of Democratic lawmakers over the previous two months.
Solomon Pena, who misplaced a state Home of Representatives election in November, was arrested at a condominium complex on Monday afternoon. Police arrived on the apartment with a warrant, and have been confronted by Pena with a gun. After an hour-long standoff, Pena agreed to give up.
Pena has been accused of paying 4 males to shoot on the houses of Democratic politicians. Police imagine that Pena was current for not less than one of many shootings.
The assaults included the house of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa, which was focused on December 4 and hit by not less than eight bullets; the house of County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley, which was hit with 12 bullets on December 11; and the house of Rep. Linda Lopez, which was shot at on January 3. Lopez mentioned that three of the bullets that hit her residence went by the window of her 10-year-old daughter’s bed room.
Upon listening to experiences of Democratic officers being focused within the space, Rep. Javier Martínez, the present nominee for speaker of the state Home of Representatives, inspected his residence and located harm from bullets. Martínez believes the assault on his residence occurred someday round December 8.
The shootings have been believed to be political lengthy earlier than Pena’s arrest on Monday.
The Albuquerque police division “basically found what we had all feared and what we had suspected — that these shootings have been certainly politically motivated,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said. “They have been harmful assaults not solely to those people … however, essentially, additionally to democracy.”
Pena, who sought a state consultant seat in November’s elections, misplaced to his Democratic opponent, Miguel Garcia, by a nearly three to one margin, with Garcia profitable 73.6 % of the vote and Pena securing simply 26.4 %. Despite his vital loss, Pena refused to concede and alleged with out proof that Garcia’s election win was illegitimate, echoing former President Donald Trump’s claims about his presidential election loss in 2020.
Certainly, Pena is a large fan of Trump’s, bragging on his campaign website that he attended many of his rallies within the southwestern a part of the U.S.
As recently as January 8, Pena claimed, with out proof, that his election loss was the results of fraud. In a January 9 Twitter post, Pena claimed elections in New Mexico have been rigged in a basic sense, and that he’d be heralded as a “hero” as soon as confirmed proper.
There isn’t any proof that voter fraud affected the outcomes of New Mexico’s elections final fall, nor of widespread fraud affecting the 2020 presidential election.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) responded to Pena’s arrest by condemning his acts of violence and claims of election fraud.
“There isn’t any place in our society or our democracy for violence towards any elected official or their households,” Grisham said in a statement.
