3 homes, 1 office of Albuquerque politicians hit by gunfire

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The homes or offices of four elected officials in the Albuquerque area have been damaged by gunshots in a 30-day span, police said Thursday.

Nobody was injured in the shootings and police are trying to determine if the incidents were related. All four politicians are Democrats.

Evidence has been collected from all of the scenes and federal authorities are helping with the investigation, which Police Chief Harold Medina called a top priority.

According to police, someone shot eight rounds at the southeast Albuquerque home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa on Dec. 4.

Seven days later, police said more than a dozen gunshot impacts were identified on walls at the house of then-Bernalillo Commissioner Debbie O’Malley in Albuquerque’s North Valley.

At least eight shots were fired at the exterior of the southwest Albuquerque home of New Mexico Sen. Linda Lopez after midnight Tuesday, according to police.

Authorities also said the office of state Sen. Moe Maestas was struck by gunfire Thursday morning.

“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, who has been a county commissioner since January 2021, told Albuquerque TV station KRQE. “No one deserves threatening and dangerous attacks like this.”

O’Malley, who left her position as commissioner after serving a maximum of two terms, said in an email that she and her husband were asleep before the gunfire struck the adobe wall surrounding their home.

“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, who has been a state senator since 1997, said three 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 in a statement.

Details of the damage done to Maestas’ office weren’t immediately available Thursday.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller called the shootings disturbing and said they are serious crimes regardless of whether anyone was injured.