“My biggest fear was, was he going to catch on that I know who he is,” the witness tells Inside Edition. “Are me and my co-worker going to make this out alive?”
A man who allegedly shot and killed a state trooper who helped him with a flat tire during a killing spree is in custody thanks in part to a witness who helped capture the suspect, authorities say.
It started in South Carolina with the slaying of paramedic Phonesia Machado-Fore.
Police say the person of interest, Jaremy Smith, took the paramedic’s car and drove across the country to New Mexico, where he got a flat tire.
State police officer Justin Hare got out of his patrol car to lend a hand to the motorist who he thought needed roadside assistance. That is when Smith allegedly opened fire, killing the officer.
“The last words Officer Hare uttered on this earth was to offer to help a man who was about to kill him,” New Mexico State Police Chief Troy Weisler said in a press conference.
The 33-year-old suspect drove off in the slain trooper’s vehicle, cops say, leading to an urgent nationwide manhunt over the weekend.
A witness stepped in.
“I actually carded him for his cigarettes. I realized who he was,” the witness tells Inside Edition. She asked to be interviewed while wearing a mask because she was concerned about her family's safety.
The witness says she recognized the wanted fugitive when he bought the cigarettes at the gas station where she works. She says the giveaway was the suspect’s ID and the unique way his first name is spelled.
“My biggest fear was, was he going to catch on that I know who he is,” the witness says. “Are me and my co-worker going to make this out alive?”
She says she called the sheriff’s office and told them Smith was in her store.
Authorities say Smith was captured after a shootout with police.
The witness is paying tribute to the slain paramedic and to the slain officer, who was a father of two.
“I just wanted to bring justice to his family. I just did what was right,” the witness says.
Smith, who has a lengthy arrest record, now faces multiple charges, including first-degree murder.
