Suspected ‘mastermind’ behind shootings at politicians’ homes heads to trial
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) Bullet casings, text messages, photos, maps, and two confessions – the evidence the U.S. Government states it will present to put Solomon Pe?a behind bars for life. Pe?a, a Republican, ran for the New Mexico House of Representatives District 14 seat in 2022. After he lost, federal investigators said he orchestrated shootings at the homes of four Bernalillo County Democrats who he believed were responsible for his loss.
His arrest in January 2023 garnered national attention. Albuquerque Police’s SWAT team placed Pe?a in handcuffs just days after another elected official’s home was peppered with bullets, the fourth victim.
At a press conference announcing the arrest, APD Chief Harold Medina said, “It is believed that he is the mastermind that was behind this, and that was organizing this.” Organizing a plot, Medina explained, to intimidate the people who certified the November 2022 election results.
Pe?a, who previously served five years in prison for leading a burglary ring, refused to accept he lost the New Mexico House seat to the Democratic incumbent by nearly 50 percentage points. Investigators said Pe?a claimed voter fraud and that “it was rigged.”
“Would-be leaders don’t get to pick which voters they heed, which rules apply to them, or which laws to follow,” said U.S. District Attorney of New Mexico, Alexander Uballez. He spoke at a press conference in May 2023 announcing the federal government picked up the case against Pe?a. Uballez’s Office charged him and two accomplices, father and son Demetrio and Jose Louise Trujillo, with carrying out the conspiracy by shooting at the homes of four elected Democrats. The Trujillos are expected to testify at Pe?a’s trial.
Other co-conspirators are named in the indictment. They still have not been identified, but the Trujillos told the feds they met Pe?a through them. The father and son admitted that, their roles in the conspiracy and how Pe?a orchestrated the shootings when they took plea deals earlier this year. Court records show the U.S. Government plans to use their words, the victim’s testimony, and text messages to prove the charges against him.
KRQE Investigates obtained an exhibit of text messages and photos federal prosecutors plan to show to the jurors tasked with deciding whether Pe?a is guilty. Dates on the text messages range from days after the election through to the night before the final shooting.
The feds point out in court records that a handful of the first texts plus a photo from a home security video camera prove Pe?a initially visited the homes of three Bernalillo County Commissioners – he would later be charged with shooting at two of their houses. And, the prosecution said, Pe?a showed up with a letter for them, explaining why he believed he could not have lost the election.
In his plea, Jose Louise Trujillo told the court that Pe?a then texted him Commissioner Adriann Barboa’s address and paid him to slash her tires. Once Barboa and other commissioners certified the results, the plot turned darker.
“My neighbors, they heard the gunshots, they came out and looked and they saw somebody walking to a car,” Barboa told KRQE in December 2022. “So someone walked up, shot at my house, and then walked back to a car and got in a car and left.” In his plea, Demetrio Trujillo told the court Pe?a paid him to shoot at Barboa’s home and he did, with two unnamed co-conspirators, on December 4, 2022.
On that day, the text messages reveal one of the co-conspirators texted Pe?a “ROOT BEER!!!!!!” Investigators said that was the codename for where they would meet.
Four days later, on December 8, 2022, federal prosecutors said text messages reveal Pe?a sent a photo of a black ski mask to one of the co-conspirators, and to Demetrio Trujillo, Pe?a sent the home address of the next victim – incoming Democratic House Leader Javier Martinez. Demetrio Trujillo admitted the same three carried out the second shooting.
“It is heartbreaking that there are people amongst us that feel like they are empowered to deny election results,” Martinez told KRQE at the time.
Three days later, Commissioner Debbie O’Malley’s home was shot up. This time, according to Jose Louise Trujillo, he and Pe?a carried it out with Pe?a providing the gun. That same day, December 11, 2022, investigators said Pe?a sent a text to an “unknown individual” about surveilling state representatives “trying to find dirt on them.” The message continued, “If you follow someone around 24 hours a day, you will eventually discover them doing something they are not supposed to be doing.”
It is not clear which state representatives Pe?a was referring to, but about three weeks later, the Trujillos said they and Pe?a shot at State Senator Linda Lopez’s home. The feds said that the day before that shooting Pe?a sent a few text messages – one with an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, another with the message “Santa will snow again tomorrow…”
An hour after the drive-by shooting at Lopez’s home, on January 3, 2023, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office stopped Jose Louise Trujillo for an expired registration. He was driving Pe?a’s car.
Because Trujillo had a warrant for his arrest in a separate case, the deputies arrested him and searched the car. Lapel video and the police report reveal the deputies located an AR-15 and a Glock outfitted with a drum magazine, 85 bullets, almost 900 fentanyl pills, and more than $3,000 in cash. With this evidence, police connected the guns to bullet casings found outside of at least one of the homes. Then, investigators said, witnesses started talking which landed Pe?a behind bars.
And it turns out, while in jail awaiting this trial, Pe?a started talking too. The feds said he told two of his fellow inmates how he carried out the shootings when offering them $10,000 each to kill witnesses he’s expecting to testify against him. That led to three more charges against Pe?a and those inmates are now also expected to take the stand, sharing what Pe?a told them.
Jury selection for the trial of Solomon Pe?a begins Monday, September 23, 2024. Once the jury is picked, the trial is expected to last seven days. Court records show the Trujillos will be sentenced in October. They both face up to life in prison.
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