ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The man who police have called a “mastermind” behind shootings at the homes of four elected leaders in Albuquerque, Solomon Peña has been indicted by a grand jury. Peña is facing more than a dozen counts in the case, accused of planning and participating in the shootings at two Bernalillo County Commissioners and two state lawmakers’ homes across December and January.
The charges Peña is now facing through indictment are somewhat different from what he had originally been charged with upon his arrest. Peña is now accused of 14 fourth-degree felony counts.
Those charges include three counts of criminal solicitation to commit a shooting at a dwelling or occupied building for allegedly paying other men to shoot at elected officials homes. Jose Trujillo is one of the men Peña is alleged to have paid to participate in the shootings.
The indictment also alleges for the first time that Peña had a direct role in each of the shootings. He faces four counts of “shooting at a dwelling or occupied building with no great bodily harm,” accused of participating in the shootings at the homes of Bernalillo County Commissioners Adriann Barboa and Debbie O’Malley, state House Speaker Javier Martinez and state Senator Linda Lopez.
Peña is also facing two counts of receipt, transportation, or possession of a firearm of destructive device by a felon, and one count of attempting to commit aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The attempted aggravated battery charge stems from the shooting Sen. Lopez’s house on January 3, 2023.
Finally, Peña is facing two counts of conspiracy to commit a shooting at a dwelling or occupied building, and two counts of unlawful taking of a motor vehicle. The vehicle charges stem from allegations on December 4, 2022, one day after the shooting at Adriann Barboa’s home.
Some of the charges Peña is facing also carry possible alternative counts, as to offer potential jurors a similar, but lesser charge that prosecutors can argue if Peña is ultimately taken to trial. At a hearing last week, a district court judge opted to hold Peña in jail while he awaits trial in the case.
