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State Police details officer's death as manhunt for suspect continues
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A few hours before sunrise Friday, New Mexico State Police officer Justin Hare pulled behind a BMW with a flat tire along Interstate 40, near Tucumcari.
The driver walked up to his window and the two spoke about fixing the flat or even getting a ride to town.
Without warning, the man shot Hare once and then again, pushing the wounded officer into the passenger鈥檚 seat of his patrol vehicle. Police found Hare鈥檚 SUV wrecked on the side of the frontage road several miles away.
Hare had been removed from the vehicle somewhere in between, left to die on the dark stretch of road. While Hare was taken to a hospital, authorities followed the killer鈥檚 tracks for hours. They looped back to I-40 and disappeared.
Hare, 35, had been with State Police for five years. He left behind two children, with a third on the way.
鈥淥n a cold, dark and windy morning, he offered help to a person he thought was in need,鈥� New Mexico State Police Chief Troy Weisler said in a briefing on the investigation Saturday morning. 鈥淭he last words officer Hare uttered on this earth was to offer help to a man who鈥檚 about to kill him.鈥�
Weisler wiped tears from his eyes and composed himself, then said: 鈥淛aremy Smith, we are coming for you. I implore you to turn yourself in and surrender peacefully. There鈥檚 been enough death and despair.鈥�
Police learned the BMW Smith was driving belonged to Phonesia Machado-Fore, a 52-year-old woman reported missing in South Carolina on Tuesday. Her body was found in a rural part of South Carolina on Friday night.
State Police said Smith is 鈥渁 person of interest in the murder鈥� of Machado-Fore.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Smith, a 33-year-old from Marion, South Carolina. He is facing an open count of murder, armed robbery, shooting at a motor vehicle and other charges in the death of Hare.
Weisler said Smith has ties to Albuquerque, where he had spent time in the past, but did not elaborate further. He wouldn鈥檛 say if authorities knew where Smith was headed next.
Court records show Smith has been arrested in South Carolina numerous times since 2008 on charges of grand larceny, burglary, shooting at a vehicle and armed robbery. In 2014, Smith was involved in a detention center riot and charged 鈥� as an inmate 鈥� with participating in a riot, possessing weapons and holding hostages.
In 2019, Smith unsuccessfully tried to sue officers of the Kershaw Correctional Institution for violating his civil rights in several alleged beatings behind bars.
New Mexico Public Safety Secretary Jason Bowie said authorities often look for 鈥渋mmediate answers鈥� in the wake of an incident like Hare鈥檚 killing. He said sometimes it involves mental health issues, referencing the recent killing of officer Jonah Hernandez in Las Cruces.
鈥淚鈥檓 here to tell you that there are some people in our society that are just violent,鈥� Bowie said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e calculated, deliberate in their actions, and they stop at absolutely nothing to prey on others.鈥�
He said Jaremy Smith 鈥渋s certainly that,鈥� and in the quest to find him, authorities will mirror a few of those same traits.
鈥淲e will also be deliberate and calculated in our actions鈥� We鈥檒l be relentless in our pursuit to bring him into custody,鈥� Bowie said, adding, 鈥漚nyone who is found aiding or harboring Jaremy Smith, we will also charge them and prosecute them to the fullest extent, and you can be sure of that.鈥�
A said on Friday the officer 鈥減ut on his uniform like any other day. Kissed (the mother of his children) goodbye and (said) 鈥業鈥檒l see you after work.鈥� Only this time, she nor his children would see him at the end of his shift.鈥�
鈥淏ecause of the evil act of a criminal, (she) and his 3 children will never hug and kiss him before the start or end of his shifts again. Instead, she got the knock on the door that no spouse ever wishes to receive. At that moment their lives were forever changed,鈥� according to the GoFundMe narrative.
Efforts to reach Hare鈥檚 family were unsuccessful.
A traveler in need
On Saturday morning, Chief Weisler detailed Hare鈥檚 final call, one that would bring him into the path of Smith 鈥� who had apparently driven a long way to get here.
He said Hare responded around 5 a.m. Friday to reports of a man trying to flag down passersby on westbound Interstate 40 at milepost 318, west of Tucumcari. He said Hare came upon Smith, who was sitting in a white BMW with a flat tire along the shoulder.
Weisler said Smith walked up to the passenger鈥檚 side of Hare鈥檚 vehicle and 鈥渁 short conversation ensued about repairing his tire and possibly getting a ride back to town.鈥�
鈥淲ithout warning, the suspect pulled out a firearm and shot officer Hare,鈥� he said. Smith then walked to the driver鈥檚 side and shot Hare again.
Dispatch sent a second officer when Hare didn鈥檛 respond on his radio.
As the other officer was on the way, Hare鈥檚 duress button was pressed on the radio on his belt. The button sends an emergency signal to dispatch.
Weisler said it鈥檚 unclear if Hare pressed the button himself or if it was pressed when Smith moved Hare from the driver鈥檚 seat.
He said the other officer was on I-40 when they spotted Hare鈥檚 vehicle speeding down the frontage road, headed west. The officer got off the highway and found Hare鈥檚 vehicle crashed on the side of the road near milepost 304.
鈥淭he assisting officer approached officer Hare鈥檚 patrol unit, only to find that it was empty,鈥� Weisler said. He said authorities backtracked and found Hare on the side of the frontage road, six miles from where he had been shot.
鈥淲e tracked what we believe to be Smith鈥檚 trail for quite some time, but eventually lost it when it returned back to the interstate,鈥� Weisler said, adding that it鈥檚 possible he got a ride from there.
He said if Smith doesn鈥檛 turn himself in, 鈥渨e will find him.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 nowhere he can run, there鈥檚 nowhere he can hide,鈥� Weisler said.
He said Hare was 鈥渁 pillar of the community鈥� in Logan and still lived in the house he had grown up in. Weisler said everyone knew Hare, including at the hospital.
鈥淭hese people all knew Justin, the people working on him, trying to save his life鈥� he was a friend of theirs,鈥� he said.
Bowie expressed gratitude to the State Police officer and Quay County deputy who found Hare on the side of the frontage road.
鈥淚 can simply not imagine what that experience must have been like for them,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I can tell you that I鈥檓 extremely thankful that they were there, because if not for them, Justin would have died out there alone.鈥�
鈥楩ar from over鈥�
Fifteen-hundred miles away, a community mourned another first responder, Sgt. Phonesia Machado-Fore, a paramedic crew chief in Florence County, South Carolina.
The 52-year-old was reported missing on Thursday, according to the Marion County Sheriff鈥檚 Office (MCSO). She was last seen at her home and was 鈥渂elieved to be driving her white BMW.鈥�
Machado-Fore鈥檚 daughter said on Facebook that she was supposed to come by the daughter鈥檚 home 鈥渁nd never made it.鈥� The daughter wrote, 鈥淪he left no clues as to where she was going.鈥�
On Friday morning, according to MCSO, New Mexico State Police told them the BMW was 鈥渋nvolved in the murder of one of their officers.鈥� The agency said additional information led deputies to her body, which was found on a property outside of Lake View in Dillon County.
MCSO said an autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause of death. New Mexico State Police said Smith is 鈥渁 person of interest in the murder.鈥�
鈥淭his case is far from over,鈥� MCSO wrote in a Facebook post. 鈥淢rs. Fore was one of us, a fellow first responder. Her death is senseless.鈥�
Florence County Emergency Medical Services, where Machado-Fore worked since 2017, said on Facebook that she 鈥渢ouched countless lives both personally and professionally.鈥� She was a mother and grandmother.
鈥淗er infectious laughter, quick wit, and devious smile were part of who she was as a person, coworker, and friend,鈥� according to the post. 鈥淲hile she may not always agree with you, you knew that she would be there for you if you needed anything.鈥�
鈥淧honesia would strive, every day, to be the best person she could and to take care of others. She truly had a servant鈥檚 heart and genuinely loved people.鈥�
In the Facebook post, Florence County EMS also extended its condolences to 鈥渢he family, friends, and coworkers of New Mexico State Police Officer Justin Hare.鈥�
