The homes or offices of four elected Democratic officials in New Mexico have been hit by gunfire over the past month, and authorities are working to determine if the attacks are connected, the Associated Press reports.
Nobody was injured in the shootings, which are being investigated by local and federal authorities. Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina who called the investigation a top priority. The attacks began on Dec. 4, when someone shot eight rounds at the Albuquerque home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa. Seven days later, someone fired more than a dozen times at the Albuquerque house of then-Bernalillo Commissioner Debbie O’Malley. Tuesday night and Thursday morning, respectively, multiple shots were fired at the home of state Sen. Linda Lopez and the office of state Sen. Moe Maestas.
“It is traumatizing to have several bullets shot directly through my front door when my family and I were getting ready to celebrate Christmas,” said Barboa, a county commissioner since January 2021. “No one deserves threatening and dangerous attacks like this.” O'Malley was grateful that her grandchildren were not in the house at the time of the shooting. Lopez, who has been a state senator since 1997, said three of the bullets shot at her home passed through her 10-year-old daughter’s bedroom. “I am asking the public to provide any information they may have that will assist the police in bringing about the arrest of the perpetrators,” Lopez said. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller called the shootings disturbing. He said they are serious crimes regardless of whether anyone was hurt.