South Carolina man federally charged in State Police officer's death

A 33-year-old was charged federally on Thursday in the carjacking and fatal shooting of a New Mexico State Police officer outside Tucumcari last week.

The FBI has charged Jaremy Smith of South Carolina with carjacking resulting in death and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence in the March 15 death of officer Justin Hare.

Hare, 35, was a father of two with a third child on the way.

If convicted, Smith could face the death penalty.

Authorities say Smith fatally shot Hare and stole his vehicle when the officer offered to help Smith, who had gotten a flat tire along Interstate 40, west of Tucumcari.

Smith crashed Hare’s vehicle soon after and ran off, according to authorities. On Sunday, Smith was shot and injured by Bernalillo County deputies after being spotted at a gas station on Albuquerque’s West Side.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said at least two deputies fired at Smith, who had a gun on him at the time. State Police said Smith was treated at a local hospital.

Alexander Uballez, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico, said a vigilant gas station employee — not a trained investigator, law enforcement official, or officer — brought Smith’s alleged crime spree to a halt.

“Of all these cops behind me and all these suits and yet it was one of you in the community who did the right thing. Because doing the wrong thing, or doing nothing, was unthinkable to you,” he said during a briefing outside the Pete V. Domenici federal courthouse in Downtown Albuquerque. “I want members of our community to remember that last weekend’s tragedy was bookended by hope, by strangers doing the right thing for people they’d never met.”

An employee at a Murphy USA in the South Valley told the Journal the employee who spotted Smith had “taken some time off” after the incident.

At 12:10 p.m. Friday, Smith limped into a federal courtroom Downtown wearing a hospital gown with his left arm in a cast. His attorney, Devon Fooks, asked Judge Kirtan Khalsa if Smith could sit during the hearing.

“He’s still in a considerable amount of pain,” Fooks told Khalsa.

Before the judge explained Smith’s rights, he told her “good afternoon, ma’am,” with a hint of Southern drawl in his voice. When Khalsa asked if Smith understood he could be put to death if convicted, he gave a “yes, ma’am.”

At the end of the initial hearing, Fooks told Khalsa he had to speak with Smith “about his physical and mental health” before determining the next steps in his defense.

By 12:25 p.m., Smith limped out of the courtroom, remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. It was unclear where he was headed next.

The charges are the first to be filed against Smith since Hare’s death.

Before the shooting, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Hare offered to give Smith a ride “to a nearby town because no repair shop was open.” Hare’s dash camera and lapel footage showed “immediately afterward, a flash and loud noise consistent with gunfire.”

Agents say Smith then moved to the driver’s side and shot Hare another time, pushing him into the passenger seat. State Police responding to a duress signal from Hare found his crashed vehicle and, in the vicinity, the officer with multiple gunshot wounds to his head and neck.

Inside Hare’s vehicle, authorities found two 9mm bullet casings and there were several bullets lodged in the vehicle.

Authorities learned the BMW that Smith got the flat tire in belonged to Phonesia Machado-Fore, a paramedic in South Carolina. Machado-Fore, according to the complaint, had been reported missing days before Hare was killed, and her body was found that night “with a possible gunshot wound to the head.”

Agents say Machado-Fore’s roommate reported her Taurus 9mm handgun had been stolen after the woman went missing. Authorities identified Smith as the suspect in Hare’s death after they found a cellphone near the officer’s crashed vehicle that belonged to an Albuquerque woman.

The FBI learned that on Feb. 27, Albuquerque police responded to a domestic disturbance involving Smith and the woman, who is identified as his girlfriend in a police report.

Authorities watched lapel video from the incident and determined Smith matched the description of Hare’s killer and even wore a similar jacket.

In that case, the woman told police Smith picked her up from work when the pair began to argue about her parents not wanting him in their house anymore, according to the report. She said that Smith “got upset” and began pulling the steering wheel and she ran into a nearby gas station.

The girlfriend told police, in a conversation recorded by an officer’s lapel camera, that she met Smith in December after he was released from a lengthy prison stretch. She said he “comes and leaves” between South Carolina and living with her family.

“What are you doing?” the female officer asks her, incredulously. The girlfriend replies, “I thought he was a nice guy.”

The officer told her, “You need to think about yourself, and you let him in your house with your parents.” The officer added, “Girl, you need to get away. I mean, it’s up to you, but…”

Smith told the officer he needed to get some things from the house and asked if one of the officers could escort him. The officer told Smith he has to call the non-emergency line separately to request an escort. Smith walks away from police into the darkness behind the gas station, as one officer laughs.

Alfred Torres, a neighbor, told the Journal that Smith had been staying at the home for the past year. Torres said Smith could be seen out front smoking cigarettes often and kept to himself.

“He never really talked to anyone,” he said.

Torres said another neighbor walking her dog on a trail behind the neighborhood ran into Smith on Sunday morning. He said Smith “asked her if there were any cars in his driveway, so he knew they were looking for him.”

“She didn’t even know what he had done,” Torres said. “... After he left, that’s when she started hearing the gunshots.”

The FBI said Smith bought something at a gas station near Coors and Blake SW and the employee recognized the name on his license. The clerk called 911, BCSO deputies found Smith nearby and a foot chase ensued.

“A review of BCSO body worn camera footage showed Smith reaching for his waistband as officers closed in,” according to the complaint. “At that point, BCSO officers fired their duty weapons striking Smith.”

Agents say a Taurus 9mm handgun was found near Smith, the same type of gun stolen from Machado-Fore’s roommate and the same caliber of bullets used to kill officer Hare.

Just before the foot chase, Smith had been walking toward a white truck, according to the complaint. Authorities learned the white truck had been stolen from Cuervo the night before — 13 miles west of where Hare’s vehicle was found crashed.

State Public Safety Secretary Jason Bowie said Friday that after Hare was killed and the manhunt began, law enforcement was “running on adrenaline, shock, anger, frustration, all of those things.” He said, upon Smith’s capture, those feelings turned to a “very small moment of relief and even, I would say, happiness.”

“But that elation and that celebration is very short-lived because, pretty quickly, what is staring you right back in the face, again, is the tragedy of it all,” Bowie said. “Two first responders, two public safety professionals, killed and murdered just in a couple of days.”

He said, in solidarity, State Police will be sending two officers to the funeral service for Machado-Fore “to make sure that we pay our condolences and respect to the family, and also honor Phonesia as well.”