Ex-GOP candidate charged in shootings at lawmakers’ homes – By Rio Yamay & Susan Montoya Bryan (AP News) / Jan 17, 2023
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A failed Republican candidate paid $500 to four men to shoot at the homes of Democratic lawmakers, but was so unsatisfied with the shooters’ work that he went along for the final drive-by, his gun jamming as bullets ripped into the bedroom of a sleeping 10-year-old girl, police said.
The criminal complaint against Solomon Peña, a 39-year-old felon and self-proclaimed “MAGA king,” describes how anger over his landslide defeat in November led to attacks at the homes of four Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico’s largest city. A SWAT team arrested him Monday evening, police said.
Peña spent nine years behind bars after his arrest in April 2007 for stealing electronics and other goods from several retail stores as part of what authorities described as a burglary crew. He was released from prison in March 2016, and had his voting rights restored after completing five years probation in April 2021, corrections officials said.
Peña ran unsuccessfully in November against incumbent state Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, the longtime Democrat representing House District 14 in the South Valley. Peña got 26% of the vote.
