Suspect Emerges in Shootings at Democratic Officials' Homes

It's not clear if he's linked to all of the New Mexico shootings
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 7, 2023 12:45 PM CST
Updated Jan 10, 2023 1:21 AM CST
Investigators Look for Motive in Shootings at Democrats' Homes
Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, shows bullet holes in her garage door on Thursday in Albuquerque, N.M.   (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)
UPDATE Jan 10, 2023 1:21 AM CST

Authorities in New Mexico’s largest city said a suspect believed to be linked to at least one of the shootings at or near the homes or offices of several elected officials was in custody Monday, but they declined to release his name, the AP reports. Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said the man was being held on unrelated charges and that detectives were still awaiting the results of several outstanding search warrants filed in the investigation. Authorities declined to say what charges the man was being held on. They did confirm, however, that officers seized a firearm linked to the suspect that was used in the shooting at a home, but have yet to determine whether it was connected to any of the others, which occurred between early December and early January.

Jan 7, 2023 12:45 PM CST

Bullets flew through one home's front door and garage. At another home, three bullets went into the bedroom of a 10-year-old girl in a series of shootings that had at least one thing in common: They targeted the homes or offices of elected Democratic officials in New Mexico. Nobody was injured in the shootings that are being investigated by local and federal authorities, the AP reports. Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said they're working to determine if the attacks that started in early December and were scattered around the state's largest city are connected. No suspects have been identified.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it will analyze recovered bullet casings to try to determine whether the same weapon was used or if the gun was used in other crimes, per the AP. The shootings began Dec. 4, when eight rounds were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa, police said. Seven days later, someone fired more than a dozen shots at former Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O'Malley's home. Albuquerque police said technology that can detect the sound of gunfire indicated shots were fired in the vicinity of New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torre's former campaign office on Dec. 10. Nobody was in the building at the time, and police found no damage.

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This week, shots were fired at the home of state Sen. Linda Lopez—a lead sponsor of a 2021 bill that reversed New Mexico's ban on most abortion procedures—and the office of state Sen. Moe Maestas. Maestas co-sponsored a bill last year to set new criminal penalties for threatening state and local judges. It didn't pass. "To say I am angry about this attack on my home—on my family, is the least of it," O'Malley said in an email. "I remember thinking how grateful I was that my grandchildren were not spending the night, and that those bullets did not go through my house." Lopez said in a statement that three bullets passed through her 10-year-old daughter's bedroom. Other bullets penetrated a garage door and damaged a wall. She called on the public to provide any information that will lead to an arrest, as did Republican leaders in the state Senate.

(More New Mexico stories.)

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