Solomon Peña

Solomon Peña (born April 1983) is an American political candidate who was the Republican nominee for the 14th district of the New Mexico House of Representatives in 2022. He attracted national attention when he was arrested on January 16, 2023, for hiring men to shoot at various Democratic politicians in response to his loss in the November election, for which he was convicted in March 2025. He was raised in New Mexico, graduating from Highland High School in Albuquerque in 2001. According to his campaign site, he served in the 3rd Marine Division as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman in Okinawa, Japan; however, this has not been verified.

In 2008, Peña was sentenced to seven years in prison for stealing large amounts of electronics and other goods from at least four Albuquerque retail stores, including a Kmart, as part of a wider smash and grab scheme. He started his sentence in May 2009.

He was embroiled in another legal dispute in 2010 while in prison, when he was fired from his job as a prison cook due to a physical altercation in which he gouged at an inmate's eyes after he threw butter at Peña and headbutted him. Peña sued prison authorities, claiming that his firing was a violation of his constitutional rights, writing that "prison authorities want the prisoners to be stupid, uneducated and uninformed (and drug-addicted) so they can do whatever they want to the prisoners.". The judge dismissed his lawsuit.

Peña was also a follower of the LaRouche movement, having donated over $5,000 to their political action committee LaRouchePAC and having tabled for the group at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. In his resume, Peña included a link to a LaRouche manifesto.

2022 New Mexico House of Representatives elections

Peña ran against Democratic incumbent Miguel Garcia as the Republican nominee in the election for House representative of New Mexico's 14th house district during the 2022 midterm elections. Before the election, Democrats attempted to disqualify Peña, citing his extensive criminal history, with Garcia filing a lawsuit against him. Peña received aid from fellow New Mexico Republicans, who knew of the difficulties of running in a historically uncontested district (Garcia had first won the position of representative of New Mexico's 14th house district in 1998). Janice Arnold-Jones, former representative for New Mexico's 24th state house district, described Peña as being "entirely green" as a politician, reporting that Peña told her that he would win based on positive reactions during door-to-door canvassing. Upon hearing of Donald Trump's announcement of his 2024 bid for reelection, Peña stated that he stood by Trump and that he was considering his "own options," in regard to him not conceding his defeat to Garcia. Peña made various inflammatory remarks on his Twitter account, including once calling New Mexico state house representative Rebecca Dow "a prostitute," calling a female user on the site "ugly," and telling then federal house representative-elect Gabe Vasquez to "get the fuk [sic] outta here," upon Vasquez proclaiming victory in the November election. Police state that four of these have been confirmed to be linked to Peña.

According to a confidential witness who claimed to have knowledge of the conspiracy, the shooters were initially instructed to aim above the windows to purposely avoid striking anyone; however, Peña later wanted shooters to be more aggressive. He reportedly disliked how late shooters would attack, since the occupants of the houses would likely be asleep by that time, and instructed them to come around 8 pm MST when they would be awake. This reportedly made the shooters uneasy as they knew that this would increase the chance that their shootings would cause serious injury or death. Barboa was one of the elected officials Peña had come to after the election to show his proof of victory. O'Malley informed police and while they were investigating, she recalled that Peña had arrived at her house "a day or two" before the shooting to express his anger at not winning and complain about the election results. A Ring home security video obtained by CNN shows Peña with papers arriving at O'Malley's former residence on December 10, one day before the shooting, where the new owner subsequently directs him to O'Malley's new residence. Police have announced that they haven't been able to definitively connect them with Peña.

Early in the morning of December 10, multiple shots were detected in the vicinity of the now current New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez's former campaign office in Albuquerque. By that time, Torrez had already moved out of said office, however, the Albuquerque Police Department's (APD) ShotSpotter system detected multiple gunshots in the area. Police studied the scene and investigated it as part of the wider series of shootings.

Investigation and arrest Police investigated all cases collectively. The FBI and New Mexico State Police were involved in the investigation.

On August 13, 2025, Peña was sentenced to 80 years in prison with 3 years of supervised release.

Reactions The incident was frequently compared to the attack on Paul Pelosi that took place a few months prior.

The New Mexico Republican Party condemned Peña, stating that "if Peña is found guilty, he must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law." Greg Baca, the state senate Republican leader, described it as a "heinous attack," stating that "he and his co-conspirators deserve to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." Republican House leader Ryan Lane stated on January 18 that "this is yet another example of a convicted felon unlawfully gaining access to firearms, which they are barred from owning or possessing, and using the weapon in a manner that causes public harm."