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Alleged mastermind behind shootings at New Mexico Democrats’ homes appears in court

January 18, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — A New Mexico man, who lost his bid for the state legislature as a Republican, continues to be held without bail after his first court appearance on Wednesday since being arrested for allegedly orchestrating recent attacks at the homes of four Democratic lawmakers.

Solomon Peña, 39, appeared remotely via video for an appearance in the Metropolitan Courthouse in downtown Albuquerque Wednesday afternoon, wearing a red jail uniform, shackles and a mask hanging off his left ear. He is being held on several charges, including multiple counts of shooting at a home and shooting from a motor vehicle, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

During the brief hearing, Peña’s attorney said they do not have any challenges to probable cause in the complaint against him. The judge ruled there is probable cause to hold Peña and set a hearing for Feb 1 to talk about the possibility of bail. For now, Peña will remain in custody without bail.

The district attorney’s office has 10 days to file official charges against Peña, which could differ from what he’s being held on currently.

“At this point, the charges against Mr. Peña are merely accusations that have not yet been tested by the full rigor of the judicial process,” Peña’s attorney, Roberta Yurcic, said in a statement to ABC News. “Mr. Peña is presumed innocent of the charges against him. Mr. Peña and I look forward to a full and fair investigation of these claims. I plan to fully defend Mr. Peña and fiercely safeguard his rights throughout this process.”

Peña is accused of paying four men to shoot at the residences of local Democratic officials, including Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa on Dec. 4; New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martinez on Dec. 8; then-Bernalillo Commissioner Debbie O’Malley on Dec. 11; and state Sen. Linda Lopez on Jan. 3, according to a press release from the Albuquerque Police Department. No one was injured in the shootings, and police expect to file charges for the other men who were allegedly involved.

Police allege Peña “paid the men cash and sent text messages with addresses where he wanted them to shoot at the homes.” He also allegedly “went with the men and attempted to shoot at one of the homes, but the AR handgun he was using malfunctioned. Another shooter fired more than a dozen rounds from a separate handgun,” police said.

Peña was taken into custody on Monday, as detectives served search warrants at his apartment and at the home of two of the men he allegedly paid, according to police. An image of the suspect released by police shows him wearing a MAGA sweatshirt and standing in front of Trump flags.

Police credited detective work matching shell casings. A break in the case came when a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputy stopped a silver Nissan Maxima about 4 miles away from Lopez’s home on Jan. 3, just 40 minutes after the shooting. The driver, identified as Jose Trujillo, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Deputies found more than 800 fentanyl-laced pills and two firearms inside the car, which was registered to Peña, according to police.

In November, Peña unsuccessfully ran against Democratic incumbent state Rep. Miguel P. Garcia for House District 14. Police said Garcia had sued Peña in August, arguing that the Republican candidate was not eligible to serve in the New Mexico House of Representatives because he is a convicted felon and was not pardoned by the governor. A judge ruled in September that Peña could remain on the ballot because the law is unconstitutional, according to police.

Police said Lopez and county commissioners told detectives that Peña “showed up uninvited at their homes in November after the election” and “provided them with documents that he said indicated fraud in the election results.”

Another electrical substation damaged by gunfire in North Carolina

January 18, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — An electrical substation in North Carolina has been damaged by gunfire, marking the third incident where a substation was damaged since November.

An EnergyUnited substation was damaged around 3 a.m. Tuesday, but there were no outages in the areas it serves: Trinity, Thomasville, and parts of Davidson County, south of Thomasville.

The FBI and local law enforcement are investigating the incident and there are currently no known suspects or motives.

This is the latest incident of an electrical substation being hit by gunfire in the state.

On Dec. 3, two Duke Energy stations in North Carolina’s Moore County were targeted by gunfire, causing about 45,000 customer outages.

There was another incident on Nov. 11, when a Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative station in Maysville, North Carolina, was vandalized, causing 12,000 customers to go without power.

It’s not immediately clear whether these incidents are related.

This is a developing story.

Alleged mastermind behind shootings at New Mexico Democrats’ homes to appear in court

January 18, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — A New Mexico man, who lost his bid for the state legislature as a Republican, will make his first court appearance on Wednesday since being arrested for allegedly orchestrating recent attacks at the homes of four Democratic lawmakers.

Solomon Peña, 39, is scheduled to appear for an initial hearing at the Metropolitan Courthouse in downtown Albuquerque at 1:30 p.m. local time, according to online records. He faces a slew of charges including multiple counts of shooting at a home and shooting from a motor vehicle, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

There was no immediate contact information for Peña available.

Peña is accused of paying four men to shoot at the residences of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa on Dec. 4; New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martinez on Dec. 8; then-Bernalillo Commissioner Debbie O’Malley on Dec. 11; and state Sen. Linda Lopez on Jan. 3, according to a press release from the Albuquerque Police Department. No one was injured in the shootings, and police expect to file charges for the other men who were allegedly involved.

Police allege that Peña “paid the men cash and sent text messages with addresses where he wanted them to shoot at the homes.” He also allegedly “went with the men and attempted to shoot at one of the homes, but the AR handgun he was using malfunctioned. Another shooter fired more than a dozen rounds from a separate handgun,” police said.

Eleven-year-old girl shot dead after buying milk at corner store

January 18, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(SYRACUSE, N.Y.) — An 11-year-old girl was walking home after getting milk for her family when she was shot and killed in Syracuse, New York, officials said.

Brexialee Torres-Ortiz was struck by a gunman in a car who was firing at a different person, Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile said at a news conference Tuesday, calling it a “true tragedy.”

Brexialee was at a corner store that was about 100 yards from her apartment, he said.

Officers responded to the shooting at about 7:45 p.m. Monday and found Brexialee shot in the mid-section, Cecile said. She was taken to a hospital where she died, he said.

A 19-year-old man was also shot at the scene, Cecile said. He was struck in the leg and is expected to survive, according to the chief.

It’s not clear if the 19-year-old was the target, Cecile said. There’s no apparent connection between the 19-year-old and Brexialee, he added.

Brexialee loved to dance, Cecile said. She was president of her fifth-grade class and part of her school’s high honors program, the chief said.

Cecile said he talked to Brexialee’s principal who spoke of “how much she cared about others and showed it every day.”

“We lost a special young lady,” Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said. “My heart breaks for her family, her friends, her classmates. It is an unimaginable pain.”

No arrests have been made and Cecile pleaded with the community to come forward with tips.

“I would hope that the public, that the community, would be more forthcoming on an incident involving a little 11-year-old girl who had nothing to do with crime,” he said.

Derek Chauvin asks judge to throw out murder convictions in George Floyd’s death

January 18, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(MINNEAPOLIS) — Derek Chauvin’s attorney is set to argue Minnesota should throw out his state murder conviction in the death of George Floyd in a Wednesday hearing.

The former Minneapolis police officer was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in June 2021 after he was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Chauvin was found guilty of pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes, resulting in Floyd’s death in May 2020. The death triggered a wave of protests against police misconduct and a racial reckoning nationwide.

Chauvin’s attorney, William F. Mohrman, will argue that pretrial publicity “was more extensive than in any trial ever in Minnesota,” and that publicity, ongoing civil unrest, alleged exclusion of evidence and “misconduct” from the prosecution led to an unfair trial, according to court documents.

Mohrman cites the local death of Daunte Wright, a Black man killed by police while Chauvin’s trial was pending; Minneapolis’ $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family; and the exclusion of evidence concerning Floyd’s past arrest as laying the foundation for an unfavorable trial outcome.

Mohrman is also questioning whether Chauvin’s third-degree murder should be overturned “because this charge allowed the state to introduce evidence of Chauvin’s ‘depraved mind’ which is irrelevant to unintentional second degree murder.”

The appellant brief, filed last year, requests the state “either reverse his conviction, reverse and remand for a new trial in a new venue or remand for re-sentencing.”

Chauvin was also sentenced to 21 years in prison on federal civil rights charges after pleading guilty to violating Floyd’s civil rights and using unreasonable and excessive force, even after he was aware Floyd had lost consciousness and a pulse.

Heavy snowstorm slams Denver, takes aim on Plains, Midwest, Northeast

January 18, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A rare, mid-January heavy snowstorm is slamming Denver Wednesday morning.

Denver reported 4.8 inches of snow at midnight local time and the snowfall is ongoing for the Wednesday morning commute. Another 1 to 6 inches is expected through the day.

Heavy snow is moving through Nebraska Wednesday morning where a whopping 6 to 18 inches of snow is expected through the day. With blowing snow and snowfall rates reaching 1 to 2 inches per hour, roads are expected to be extremely dangerous.

Snow will continue later in the day into Iowa, where 6 to 12 inches is expected.

This snow will continue into Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The storm is expected to reach Green Bay early Thursday morning.

On Thursday, snow is expected in upstate New York as well as much of New England, including Boston.

Snow flurries and scattered snow showers will continue on Friday in the Northeast. Six to 12 inches are expected in upstate New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Husband accused of killing, dismembering wife allegedly Googled ’10 ways to dispose of a dead body’

January 18, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NORFOLK, Mass.) — A Massachusetts man accused of killing and dismembering his missing wife, Ana Walshe, 39, allegedly Googled “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to,” according to prosecutors.

Brian Walshe, 47, of Cohasset, appeared in court Wednesday morning on charges of murder and improper transport of a body. Not guilty pleas to the charges were entered on his behalf. Walshe was already in custody after pleading not guilty to a charge of misleading investigators.

Prosecutors believe Walshe made a series of Google searches including: “how long before a body starts to smell”; “how to stop a body from decomposing”; “how to embalm a body”; and “what’s the best state to divorce.”

Walshe also allegedly Googled “dismemberment” and “what happens when you put body parts in ammonia,” prosecutor Lynn Beland said. There were more Google searches for “hacksaw best tool to dismember” and “can you be charged with murder without a body,” according to Beland.

Blood, a bloody knife and another knife were found in the basement of the Walshes’ Cohasset home, Beland said.

Prosecutors said police also recovered 10 trash bags containing blood-stained items including: a hacksaw, towels, rags, cleaning agents, carpets, slippers, Prada purse and Ana Walshe’s COVID-19 vaccine card. Investigators found DNA from Ana Walshe and Brian Walshe on the slippers, according to Beland.

Ana Walshe was reported missing by co-workers in Washington on Jan. 4. At that time, Brian Walshe claimed he last saw his wife early on Jan. 1, as she prepared to take a ride share to Boston Logan International Airport for a “work emergency,” but investigators said she never caught a ride and never boarded a plane.

Investigators said they tracked Ana’s phone on Jan. 2, and it pinged in or near her Cohasset home.

Brian Walshe was charged with misleading the investigation on Jan. 8. At that time, investigators revealed they found blood and a broken knife in the family’s basement and had surveillance video of Brian Walshe, wearing a medical mask and surgical gloves, purchasing $450 in cleaning supplies with cash at a Home Depot in nearby Rockland.

Walshe was wearing a monitoring bracelet as he awaited sentencing for selling fake Andy Warhol paintings to an art buyer in California. He was under house arrest but was allowed to leave home for things like doctors’ appointments and grocery shopping. The bracelet did not have GPS tracking.

Police conducted a sweeping search at a Peabody landfill. The landfill was the destination for a dumpster that was outside Brian Walshe’s mother’s apartment building in Swampscott. He had visited his mom in the days following his wife’s disappearance, claiming he went shopping for her. Police found no receipts from the stores he mentioned.

Investigators have not recovered a body.

Brian and Ana Walshe have three children. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said Ana Walshe’s disappearance was the second case of domestic violence his office had seen in recent weeks.

“Our thoughts are very much with the families these crimes have left behind,” Morrissey said.

Brian Walshe is being held without bail and is set to return to court on Feb. 9.

Husband charged with missing wife’s murder due in Massachusetts court

January 18, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NORFOLK, Mass.) — A Massachusetts man accused of killing his wife, Ana Walshe, 39, who was reported missing Jan. 4, is expected to appear in court Wednesday morning.

Quincy District Court officials issued a warrant for Brian Walshe, 47, of Cohasset, on Tuesday. Walshe, who is already in custody in Norfolk, pleaded not guilty to a charge of misleading investigators. He is being held on a bail of $500,000 cash or $5 million surety bond.

“The continued investigation has now allowed police to obtain an arrest warrant, charging Brian Walshe with the murder of his wife,” Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said in a video statement posted on Tuesday. “Mr. Walshe will be transported to the Quincy District Court for arraignment on the charge of murder.”

Walshe will also be charged with improper transport of a body, officials said.

His “arraignment may be as soon as 9 a.m. tomorrow dependent on defense attorney availability,” the Cohasset Police said late Tuesday.

Morrissey said his office didn’t plan on Tuesday to release further details about the investigation or potential evidence against Walshe, but some of those details are “likely to be disclosed at arraignment.”

Ana Walshe was reported missing by co-workers in Washington on Jan. 4. At that time, Brian Walshe claimed he last saw his wife early on Jan. 1, as she prepared to take a ride share to Logan Airport for a “work emergency” but investigators said she never caught a ride and never boarded a plane.

Investigators said they pinged Ana’s phone on Jan. 2, and it pinged in or near her Cohasset home.

Investigators located trash bags containing blood evidence. Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV reported investigators also found a hacksaw and a hatchet at the landfill. Investigators also searched a Wareham incinerator but it’s unclear whether anything was located there.

Investigators have not recovered a body but they have recovered enough genetic material to tie Walshe to the murder of his wife.

Brian and Ana Walshe have three children. Morrissey said Ana Walshe’s disappearance was the second case of domestic violence his office had seen in recent weeks.

“Our thoughts are very much with the families these crimes have left behind,” Morrissey, the district attorney, said.

Planned Parenthood set on fire just two days after state passes abortion rights law

January 18, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(PEORIA, Ill.) — Police are hunting for a person involved in a suspected arson attack at a Planned Parenthood clinic in central Illinois just two days after the state enacted sweeping abortion protections into law.

The incident occurred at approximately 11:31 p.m. on Sunday when police in Peoria, Illinois, responded to the 2700 block of N. Knoxville to reports of a structure fire at a commercial building due to an “unknown person throwing a Molotov cocktail” into it, police spokesperson Semone Roth told ABC News’ Chicago station WLS-TV.

“Within minutes, the Peoria Fire Department responded to the scene and extinguished the fire that was contained to one room,” said the Peoria Police Department.

The building, which houses the Peoria Planned Parenthood Clinic, sustained “significant damage,” according to a statement from Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, which was obtained by WLS.

No patients or staff were inside during the fire but one firefighter sustained non-life-threatening injuries while attempting to extinguish the flames, according to the Peoria Police Department.

“Fire investigators determined the preliminary cause of the fire was arson,” authorities said, and during the course of their investigation, the Peoria Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division managed to obtain video footage that identified a suspect vehicle in the vicinity at the time of the crime.

The arson attack on the Planned Parenthood clinic came just two days after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed comprehensive reproductive health care legislation into law that protects out-of-state abortion seekers and allows them to get an abortion.

Illinois is just the latest of a number of states that have managed to enact legal reinforcements around abortions following last year’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had been in place since 1973.

“The vast majority of our Peoria Health Center patients were coming to us for family planning, STI testing and treatment and other reproductive health care,” said Welch. “This act of vandalism will have a devastating impact on the community’s ability to access birth control, cancer screenings and gender-affirming care.”

The Planned Parenthood location that was attacked offered medication abortion but was not a site for in-clinic procedures, Welch told WLS. She also said that she planned to prosecute the perpetrator “to the fullest extent of the law.”

The clinic, which is currently closed due to fire damage, is rescheduling their patients to other health care facilities and is also now offering transportation assistance to those who may require it.

“We would never condone violence against any Planned Parenthood or any other abortion clinic,” Mary Kate Zander, executive director of the anti-abortion organization Illinois Right to Life, told WLS. “The primary reason that we stand against abortion is that it’s an act of violence. So it would be hypocritical of us to not say the same in the case of an act of violence against abortion workers.”

For now, authorities have been unsuccessful in their efforts to locate the suspected vehicle involved in the arson attack and the Peoria Police Department is asking for public assistance in identifying and locating the truck and the driver they think was involved in the criminal act.

Anybody with any information on this case is asked to call Peoria Police Detective Brian Terry at (309) 494-8390 or Crime Stoppers, which is an anonymous tip line at 673-9000.

Some educators, students slam Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ battle against diversity, equity in higher ed

January 18, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Some Florida educators and students are concerned about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ vow against “trendy ideologies” in state colleges and universities.

“We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideologies,” DeSantis said during his Jan. 3 inauguration speech.

Some faculty members and students say they fear DeSantis’ “anti-woke” policies will be harmful, impacting school clubs, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) requirements and committees, as well as courses that touch on racial history, or race-based perspectives.

Bryn Taylor, a graduate student at the University of Florida, told ABC News that getting rid of DEI efforts would “take us back in social progress” and leave opportunities in higher education for privileged people.

“It’s about lowering barriers … for any marginalized group,” Taylor said, adding that it doesn’t just affect people of color and LGBTQ populations. “That includes first-gen students, low-income students, international students, students with disabilities.”

Taylor is the co-president of the Graduate Assistants United at the University of Florida and a member of a DEI committee at the school.

“Why don’t you want your base to become educated?” Taylor said. “Why don’t you want your citizens to have the best access to the best schools in the world?”

The DEI movement and critical race theory, the systemic racism via the legal system, have been around for decades, scholars have told ABC News.

DeSantis’ anti-“woke” efforts in education

The governor’s self-proclaimed war against “woke” beliefs has begun.

Woke is defined by the DeSantis administration as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them,” according to DeSantis’ general counsel, as reported by The Washington Post.

In December, DeSantis’ office requested data on funding, staffing and more for courses and programs that include “diversity, equity and inclusion” and “critical race theory” in a recent memo to school administrators across the state.

In response to backlash, his office told ABC News that “the governor, as chief executive of the state, has every right to ask how public dollars are being spent by public state entities, like state colleges and universities. In fact, that is good government.”

However, DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE” Act — which restricts race-related curriculum and conversation in workplaces, schools and colleges — has been temporarily blocked from being implemented in colleges and universities. The law is still being battled out in the courts.

WOKE in the bill stands for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees.”

DeSantis has also stacked the board of trustees at Sarasota’s New College of Florida — a college known for its progressive campus culture — with conservative figures such as Christopher Rufo, who popularized misinformation on critical race theory.

The governor’s office told ABC News that DeSantis made his decisions because “the public expects their tax dollars to go towards [New College’s] statutorily stated mission of ‘provid[ing] a quality education.'”

“Instead, New College has publicly committed to ‘eliminating outcome disparities for underrepresented and underserved groups,'” a statement from DeSantis’ office read.

DeSantis’ office asserted that the college’s statement “quite literally admits the institution will adjust outcomes based on non-academic factors of their choosing.”

Educators and students fight back

Andrew Gothard, the president of the United Faculty of Florida union, said that one of the complaints he’s heard from faculty against recent education restrictions is that “nobody really knows what the governor and the Office of the Governor are looking for here.”

“When we listen to politicians talk about this subject matter, they seem to use it as a catch-all for any course or topic or subject matter that talks about people who aren’t white,” Gothard told ABC News. “In higher education, we know that DEI and CRT are much more specific in their usage, but they also can relate to a larger array of issues.”

Critical race theory, which is taught in universities and colleges, seeks to understand how racism has shaped U.S. laws.

“Students in a higher education classroom should be educated on what this is, so that then they can make their own decisions about how they feel about it,” Gothard said.

Educators and librarians are left to ask themselves: “How do I know if my subject area is DEI- or CRT-related in the way that the governor thinks those terms work?” according to one librarian.

Kestrel Ward, a librarian at the University of Florida, fears the reaction to the lists being made of the funding, staffing and production of programs and courses relating to DEI and race.

“People in power creating lists of people they find undesirable has not led anywhere good for the people who are on those lists,” Ward said.

Ward said restrictions on DEI and “critical race theory” could be far-reaching — and could affect their book displays, programs and library selection.

Ward has considered leaving the position at the library due to the impending restrictions.

“It is becoming increasingly untenable, particularly for marginalized people, but for lots of people to work in higher education because there’s so much hostility from the government, which is an infringement on our academic freedom, but it’s also an infringement on our First Amendment rights,” Ward said.

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