New Mexico
Finally, New Development in Manhunt for Suspect in New Mexico Cop Shooting
![Finally, New Development in Manhunt for Suspect in New Mexico Cop Shooting](https://i.kinja-img.com/image/upload/c_fill,h_675,pg_1,q_80,w_1200/37fe277eb8b23464f908e99f1251cfea.png)
The fatal shooting of an officer and sudden disappearance of a South Carolina paramedic led the police on a frantic manhunt to find the suspect connected to each incident. This weekend, the cops finally caught their guy.
Jaremy Smith, 33, is accused of fatally shooting New Mexico State Police Officer Justin Hare Friday morning who authorities say was responding to a request for help by a disabled motorist in Tucumcari.
Before the officer could get out of the car, Chief Troy Weisler claims Smith walked from the BMW he was driving to the passenger side of the patrol car.
The two discussed Smith possibly needing a new tire and arranged for him to get a ride back in town. However, Weisler said seemingly out of nowhere, Smith pulled out his gun and shot the officer. He then walked to the other side of the car, shot him again and pushed Hare’s body into the passenger seat so he could take off with the car.
The report says by the time the cops found the car it was crashed on the side of the road but Hare was still inside. Later, he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police discovered during their investigation into Smith that the disabled BMW he drove was connected to yet another crime he allegedly committed.
Read more from ABC News:
During the investigation, police learned the car Smith was driving at the time of the encounter with Hare was registered to Machado-Fore, a paramedic for Florence County, South Carolina, Emergency Medical Services, authorities said.
Machado-Fore was found dead outside of Lake View in Dillon County, South Carolina, on Friday after she had been reported missing by her family, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Smith was finally located after a gas station clerk in Albuquerque saw a man who matched his description Sunday morning, according to Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen. After calling the police, they arrived swiftly to the location and saw Smith walking down the street where they pursued him in a foot chase. Allen said shots were fired but it was unclear how many hit Smith.
Smith was taken to the hospital for treatment under police surveillance and promptly taken into custody. It’s unclear what charges he’s facing at this time.
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New Mexico
Fires drive more wildlife into Ruidoso
![Fires drive more wildlife into Ruidoso](https://www.kob.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Fires-drive-more-wildlife-into-Ruidoso.jpg)
While these wildfires keep burning, the people in the community can expect to see wildlife in more common areas.
While the South Fork and Salt wildfires keep burning, it’s not just structures and houses that were lost in the Village of Ruidoso, but the homes of wildlife in the area.
It’s not uncommon to see elk, wild horses, or even a bear in Ruidoso. As wildfires ripped through the area, some were concerned about these animals. But experts say they should be adapted to wildfires.
“Animals in New Mexico have been adapted to deal with wildfires as part of their natural dynamic. Our plant-animal communities are pretty resilient to fire,” said Melissa Garnett, a spokesperson with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.
Garnett says residents should expect to see more animals.
“In times of fire like this, those ranges can be temporarily, changed. so we’re seeing more animals in town.”
Residents in the area told me they had seen an increase in wildlife.
Garnett says as wildlife moves to new areas, they’re using the roadways and warns people to be extra careful. “There’s also been some reports, wildlife-vehicle collisions that have come in. People need to use extra caution when they are driving”
She says there is no telling how many animals are displaced, but says it’s going to take some time.
“It’s still very early. there’s, it’s going to take some time to get the full environmental impact of this fire. and our conservation experts will assess the impact of this fire and any post-fire recovery that is needed. But not until after the fire has been fully extinguished,” said Garnett.
If you see an injured animal, contact the New Mexico Game and Fish Information Center.
New Mexico
NMSP: Otero County deputy shoots and kills teen with gun
![NMSP: Otero County deputy shoots and kills teen with gun](https://www.kob.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/NEW-MEXICO-STATE-POLICE-C0-C0-C0-1024x576-1.webp)
OTERO COUNTY, N.M. — New Mexico State Police say an Otero County deputy shot and killed a teenager who pointed what appeared to be a firearm at the deputy.
The deputy received a call around 10:45 p.m. Wednesday about a man in the median of U.S. Highway 70, near mile marker 240.
When the deputy arrived and approached the man, the man presented “what appeared to be a firearm” at the deputy. The deputy then shot him at least once.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene. He was identified as 17-year-old Elijah Hadley. NMSP investigators say the object he had was an airsoft gun. The deputy did not sustain any injuries.
An investigation is ongoing.
New Mexico
NM governor shares draft proposal for forced mental health treatment • Source New Mexico
![NM governor shares draft proposal for forced mental health treatment • Source New Mexico](https://sourcenm.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/20240626_192201-scaled.jpg)
More details are emerging about the changes to state law being proposed by New Mexico’s governor for a special legislative session planned in July.
Two high-ranking members of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s staff discussed five legislative proposals with a panel of lawmakers from the House of Representative and the Senate on Wednesday afternoon.
“What the governor is looking to do with the bills I’m going to discuss, first, is to really take some small, necessary steps to really help those people who are either an extreme danger to themselves, or an extreme danger to others,” the governor’s general counsel Holly Agajanian said.
Agajanian and Benjamin Baker, the governor’s senior public safety advisor, presented the discussion drafts to the legislative Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee.
The final proposals could significantly change between now and when the special session begins on July 18 in Santa Fe.
One of the proposals would require judges to advise a local district attorney in New Mexico to consider starting the process of involuntary commitment in a locked mental health facility.
Under the nine-page draft shared with the committee, the court could confine someone for up to a week whenever they determine that person is not competent to participate in their own legal defense, they aren’t dangerous, and the judge dismisses the criminal case.
The draft also proposes that if any of the criminal charges are a serious violent offense, or involve a gun, or if the defendant has been found incompetent to stand trial at least twice in the past year, a judge could put that person into a locked mental health facility for up to a week.
Agajanian said the draft bill is trying to solve the problem of cases getting dismissed due to defendants being incompetent to stand trial.
“You have certain people who cycle through, and through, and through, who are very likely either going to get worse and harm themselves in one way or another, or harm someone else,” she said.
The proposed changes to the state law are meant to allow for the assessment of those people “to see whether or not they do need to be committed for separate mental health treatment,” she said.
“Because obviously there is something going on, and the crimes they’re committing aren’t violent enough or dangerous enough to keep them in a facility until they can establish competency,” Agajanian said.
Another related proposal would change the legal definitions of “harm to self” and “harm to others” in the state law that governs commitment in a locked mental health facility.
Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque) said she read the proposed definitions and thought, “Boy, this would apply to half the legislators I know.”
“This is really, really broad language,” she said. “It’s going to sweep up so many people who I don’t think it would be appropriate for them to get swept up in this.”
Duhigg asked about the meaning of the term “extreme destruction of property” used in the draft, and pointed out it doesn’t specify property of others.
Agajanian said “that’s a great distinction that we could certainly add.”
“Historically, this language is meant to pull in people like arsonists,” Agajanian said. “You could set your own house on fire. Narrowing it to the destruction of property of another might fix one problem and cause another, but I’m certainly open to conversation about that.”
Winter Torres, CEO and founder of the New Mexico Eviction Prevention and Diversion Program, attended most of Wednesday’s hearing in person and gave public comment at the end of the day.
“I don’t think this session is about public safety, I think it’s about criminalizing homelessness,” Torres said. “That is the primary target of the majority of the bills that are introduced.”
There hasn’t been community interaction or public consultation about that, Torres said.
“We know the answer to folks who churn: it’s permanent supportive housing,” she said. “We know what the evidence is: we know criminalizing doesn’t work.”
Instead, state officials should be using Medicaid funding to pay for housing, she said.
“Housing is a primary social determinant of health, and locking folks up is not a treatment modality,” she said.
Peter Cubra, a retired attorney who helped dismantle the state-run institutions that held people with developmental disabilities in New Mexico, also gave public comment via Zoom. He asked the committee to “please slow this down.”
“What I heard today, in terms of changing the entire civil commitment statute, is more controversial and more impactful than things we have spent literally eight sessions trying to sort out with respect to forced treatment,” Cubra said. “It really would disserve every person with a disability in New Mexico for you to act, under these circumstances, so swiftly.”
In addition to harming people with disabilities who aren’t eagerly seeking treatment, if lawmakers were to enact the administration’s proposal, “there are hundreds of people begging for treatment who would not have access to the beds that they’re begging to get into.”
“Instead, we would be holding people against their will in a form of involuntary treatment which is almost never effective,” Cubra said. “Please slow this down and let the regular session address these issues.”
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