By Marlyn Montilla
03 Feb 2024, 15:25 PM EST
A New Mexico man has pleaded guilty to helping a Republican candidate carry out several drive-by shootings at the homes of Democratic officials.
Identified as Demetrio Trujillo, 42, he declared that the Republican candidate Salomón Peña hired him after failing to win a seat in the state legislature in the month of November 2022.
In the following weeks, the homes of various Democratic officials were attacked in Albuquerque.
For his part, Peña has denied the charges against him and will be tried in June of this year.
The case comes amid rising political violence in the United States, BBC News reported.
Trujillo was captured in January for his connection to the Albuquerque shootings at the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023.
In a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, he admitted to five charges against him, including conspiracy, election interference and use of a firearm.
Prosecutors said in December 2022 that Peña paid Trujillo to shoot at the homes of three former electoral candidates to intimidate them, according to a statement. In January 2023, the candidate and the shooter carried out one of the planned shootings, the statement said.
Peña was defeated in the state legislative elections by almost 50 percentage points, but argues that the election was “rigged.”
The authorities indicated that he approached the four Democrats, whom he later shot, to pressure them to annul the results.
By then, Peña’s Twitter account (now X) suggested he may have been inspired by former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
His last message published on November 16, 2022, said the following: “Trump just announced for 2024. I am with him. I never conceded my career [por el Distrito de la Cámara]. “I am now investigating my options.”
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