Republican Ex-Candidate Arrested in Shootings Targeting New Mexico Democrats

The authorities in Albuquerque said on Monday that a former Republican candidate who lost his bid for a State House seat in November had been arrested in connection with a series of recent shootings at the homes and offices of a half-dozen Democratic elected officials.

Chief Harold Medina of the Albuquerque Police Department said at a news conference that the former candidate, Solomon Peña, was “the mastermind” behind a conspiracy in which four other men were paid to shoot at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators.

Mr. Peña lost the election in a landslide to an incumbent Democrat, Miguel Garcia, but refused to concede after making unfounded claims of election fraud.

Chief Medina said a gun that was found during the arrest of another suspect in the shootings last week was later linked to Mr. Peña.

No one was injured in the shootings at three residences, a workplace and a campaign office in Albuquerque. Three of the shootings took place in December and two this month, most recently on Jan. 5.

After losing the election, Mr. Peña “reached out and contracted someone for an amount of cash money to commit at least two of the shootings,” Kyle Hartsock, deputy commander of the Police Department’s homicide unit, said at the news conference. Mr. Hartsock said there was evidence that Mr. Peña pulled the trigger at the Jan. 5 shooting.

This is a developing story.