‘TRAUMATIZING’

Elected Officials Seemingly Targeted in at Least 4 New Mexico Shootings

At least three of the eight shots fired at state Senator Linda Lopez’ home passed through her 10-year-old daughter’s bedroom, she said.

Police in New Mexico are probing a number of recent shooting incidents apparently targeting elected officials, it emerged Thursday. Gunfire hit at least three homes and one office belonging to state politicians, including two state senators, in the last month. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said in a news conference on Thursday that the most recent shooting had occurred that day, at the office of state Senator Moe Maestas, who was elected last year after serving more than a decade in the state House. Eight rounds were also fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa in December, while more than a dozen were fired at the home of Debbie O’Malley, a former county commissioner, just one week later. Another eight shots were fired at the home of state Senator Linda Lopez on Jan. 3. “It is traumatizing to have several bullets shot directly through my front door when my family and I were getting ready to celebrate Christmas,” Barboa said in a statement earlier this week. Lopez noted in her own statement that three of the bullets found at her home had passed through her 10-year-old daughter’s bedroom. The ongoing investigation has not yet established if the shootings were connected.