A New Mexico man says a failed Republican candidate for political office hired him to carry out drive-by shootings at the homes of Democrats who refused to comply with false election-rigging claims.
Demetrio Trujillo, 42, said in federal court documents filed Friday that he was hired in connection with a series of attacks by Solomon Peña, ·Solomon Peña ran for a New Mexico State Assembly seat in November 2022 but failed. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque said in a statement that Trujillo pleaded guilty to charges of election interference, criminal conspiracy and firearms-related crimes and could face years in prison while awaiting a sentencing hearing that was not immediately scheduled. .
The case comes amid warnings of escalating political violence in the United States, particularly after Donald Trump and his supporters widely spread lies that the former president lost the 2020 election due to voter fraud. Pena, 40, is accused of lying about how the election he lost was swindled, which later fueled a plot to shoot up the homes of New Mexico Democrats, including the state’s House speaker.
He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial scheduled for June 2024.
Pena went to members of the election results certification committee, told them his campaign, which he lost by nearly 50 percentage points, was against him and asked them to reject the results.
Drive-by shootings occurred in December 2022 and January 2023, shortly after officials confirmed Pena’s election defeat. No one was injured in any of the shootings, although authorities noted that in one shooting a bullet passed through the bedroom of a state senator’s 10-year-old daughter.
Trujillo later told investigators he knew Peña through an acquaintance. According to Trujillo reports, Peña hired him to fire bullets into the homes of three officers to intimidate them. Investigators accuse Pena of single-handedly carrying out the fourth drive-by shooting in the spree.
Ultimately, prosecutors said, Pena’s smartphone communications, including text messages, linked him to the attack. The communications not only pinpointed where the targeted officials lived. They also allegedly detailed accusations of election rigging and planned to “increase their attacks” and expressed anger that voters overwhelmingly rejected him for a seat in the New Mexico Assembly.
“We must act. … The enemy will eventually fail,” Pena said in a text message to a fellow Republican hours before the series of shootings began. He sent a separate message: “We have a responsibility… to stop oligarchs from taking over our country.”
Federal prosecutors in Albuquerque received an indictment in June charging Pena, Trujillo and Trujillo’s son in connection with the drive-by shooting.
Jose Louise Trujillo, 22, pleaded guilty Jan. 8 to charges of unlawful use of a firearm and possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute. His sentencing is tentatively scheduled for April 8.
Prosecutors’ statements about the Trujillos’ guilty pleas did not comment on the facts of the case. But when the Trujillo and Peña families were indicted, Albuquerque-based U.S. attorney Alexander Uballez said the purpose of the prosecution was to prove that “in America, voters choose their leaders. , and potential leaders cannot choose which voters they listen to.” , which rules apply to them or which laws they follow”.
Since the drive-by shootings involving the Pena and Trujillo families, New Mexico lawmakers have passed legislation making it a state felony to intimidate election officials. The bill would also allow some elected officials and political candidates to hide their home addresses from public government websites.
