A county commissioner who was one of six Democratic leaders in Albuquerque, New Mexico, whose homes or offices were targeted with gunfire said she will not be deterred from doing her job.
Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa’s home was the first to be targeted, with eight shots fired on December 4. Shots were fired outside the downtown law offices of newly appointed state Sen. Antonio “Moe” Maestas on Thursday, and the shootings continued intermittently.
Nobody was hurt. Albuquerque police arrested a suspect Monday who they did not publicly identify; they have not said whether they are looking for anyone else or what the motive was.
“I can’t let this keep me from serving in public,” Barboa said Tuesday, adding that she believes the shootings were politically motivated. “Democrats’ homes are being targeted directly.”
Tuesday, police officials did not respond to requests for comment. At a news conference on Monday, Chief Harold Medina said the suspect was being held on unrelated charges and that investigators had seized a weapon from one of the locations.
The shootings perplexed and befuddled many state and county officials, who had few answers.
“You could have killed us,” said former County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley, whose home was hit with 12 bullets while she and her husband were sleeping on Dec. 11.
“At first, we thought someone was pounding on the door with their fist.” “She went on. “We then jumped out of bed. “What if I’d been wandering around?”
She, like Barboa, stated that she will not live in fear or leave the community she has always known.
On January 3, at least eight shots were fired at the home of state Sen. Linda Lopez. Neither she nor the state’s newly elected attorney general, Ral Torrez, whose former campaign office was targeted on December 10, were available for comment on Tuesday.
Maestas stated that he does not understand why anyone would do this.
“There doesn’t appear to be a political connection, as if we voted on the same bill,” he said Tuesday, adding that he’s thankful police have been patrolling his and the other victims’ homes.
Police said Monday that the home of the state House’s incoming speaker, Democratic Rep. Javier Martinez, was also targeted in early December, but he didn’t report it until he heard about the other shootings. He refused to comment on Tuesday.
