A New Mexico police officer was tragically shot dead during a traffic stop that set off a 40-mile chase earlier this year. The suspect also died in a shootout with police.
Officer Darian Jarrott was tragically killed by Omar Felix Cueva during a routine stop on February 4th.
Officer Darian Jarrott started the traffic stop in February on Omar Felix Cueva, who according to police was on his way to Las Cruces for a drug deal.
Police said Cueva had a “violent criminal history”, including drug charges regarding cocaine and method.
When Officer Jarrott, who was talking to Cueva through the passenger window, asked him to get out of the vehicle, Cueva got out of the pickup truck with an AR-15-style rifle and fired a shot at Jarrott.
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Jarrott fell to the ground, after which Cueva fired several more shots at him, including one on the tip of the back of his head.
Less than a minute after Cueva fled the scene, a domestic investigating agent arrived on the scene and notified the dispatch that Jarrott was off.
A 40-mile chase ensued when officers from New Mexico Police, Cruces Police, the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Border Patrol pursued Cueva.
Law enforcers eventually stopped Cueva by blowing out his tires with tire deflation devices.
Before Cueva’s pickup truck came to a halt, the bystander video could show him leaving his vehicle with a pistol and opening fire on the officers, who shot Cueva dead.
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Las Cruces police officer Adrian De La Garza was also hit by gunfire but was transported to a trauma hospital in Texas, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Officer Darian Jarrott, who had three young children and was expecting a fourth child this year, was sworn in in July 2015 as a New Mexico police officer. He previously worked as a transportation inspector for the Department of Public Safety in New Mexico.
“Even when there was a difficult situation, the man always smiled,” Mexican police chief Robert Thornton said in February.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.