New Mexico official ‘grateful’ after former candidate’s arrest in shootings

A local New Mexico official whose home was shot at last month said on Tuesday that she is “grateful” for the recent arrest of a former candidate for the state legislature who allegedly orchestrated a series of shootings at the homes of elected officials in Albuquerque.  

“I feel grateful that he’s not out there to attack or target any other, anyone else,” Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa (D) told “CNN This Morning.”

Albuquerque police arrested Solomon Peña, a former Republican candidate for the New Mexico legislature, on Monday for allegedly paying four men to shoot at the homes of four Democratic elected officials, including two Bernalillo County commissioners and two state lawmakers.

Police have said the shootings were politically motivated and that Peña was an election denier. Peña lost to incumbent Democrat Miguel P. Garcia in November’s election for a seat on the state legislature but claimed in a tweet that he “never conceded” and was “researching” his options.

Barboa’s home was the site of the first of the four shootings that occurred. Eight rounds were fired into her home on Dec. 4, where she had “just hours before been playing with my granddaughter,” she told CNN.

“When politicians at our highest level of government continue to make threats and violence a regular part of public discourse, it has real impacts on our democracy and our real lives,” she added.