ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Tuesday the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office released deputy body camera footage from the pursuit and capture of a man who was wanted for killing New Mexico State Police Officer Justin Hare.
Jaremy Smith, 33, of Marion, South Carolina, made his way to Albuquerque two days after law enforcement said he shot Hare on I-40 west of Tucumcari. The sheriff’s office found Smith in a westside neighborhood off of Zydecko Avenue SW on March 17.
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The body camera video from two deputies showed the pursuit of Smith that spanned across a handful of backyards in the neighborhood. Deputies scaled multiple retaining walls to track Smith down. At one point, the sheriff’s office said Smith reportedly used a trampoline to climb over one of the walls.
While Smith was on the trampoline, a deputy fired at least four shots at him. One of the neighbors in the area then saw Smith lying on the ground near one of the walls and alerted deputies to his whereabouts. Smith started running again and a deputy began to shoot at him. The sheriff’s office said at a news conference Tuesday that Smith either threw or lost control of his gun as he was running away.
Smith then fell to the ground and deputies handcuffed him. The sheriff’s office said Smith was shot by deputies four times and that deputies immediately provided medical aid to him. “He’s only alive because we rendered aid to him at the scene,” said Nicholas Huffmyer, BCSO chief deputy, at the news conference.
Deputies first learned that Smith was in the area when a cashier from Murphy’s gas station on Coors and Blake called 911 around 7:52 a.m. The clerk said Smith came in to buy cigarettes and she recognized him as the suspect who was accused of shooting Officer Hare, according to the 911 call audio that was released by the sheriff’s office.
Deputies found Smith near Zydecko Avenue SW 40 minutes later, the sheriff’s office said. After the shooting, he was taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries. Smith has since been released from the hospital and is being held in custody.
Last week, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Smith with carjacking resulting in death, causing death by the discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, kidnapping resulting in death, being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm and interstate transport of a stolen vehicle
If convicted of the current charges, Smith faces a mandatory life sentence or death for the kidnapping resulting in death charge, and any number of years up to life or death for the carjacking and discharge of firearm offenses.
Smith is also facing 17 charges in the death of a paramedic in South Carolina. Police said Smith was found with the paramedic’s car in New Mexico when the ambush of Officer Hare happened.
