On February 4, 2021, New Mexico State Police Officer Darian Jarrott, 28, a father of three with a fourth child on the way, was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Interstate 10 in southern Luna County. Jarrott was assisting Homeland Security Investigations in a narcotics operation. The vehicle’s driver, 39-year-old Omar Felix Cueva of Deming, was en route to Las Cruces for a planned sale of 5 pounds of methamphetamine.

According to accounts, Jarrott approached the passenger side and asked whether Cueva had a firearm. Cueva acknowledged possessing a rifle but opened fire instead, hitting Jarrott at least once across the truck bed and then fatally shooting him point-blank in the back of the head as Jarrott ducked and fell. Cueva fled, sparking a nearly 40-mile pursuit along I-10 into Las Cruces during which he fired at officers. Tire deflation devices and other tactics forced his vehicle off the highway; he exited and exchanged gunfire with pursuing officers and was killed in that shootout.

Jarrott’s death was the first line-of-duty shooting death of a New Mexico State Police officer in more than 30 years. He was buried February 12, 2021, at Shakespeare Cemetery in Lordsburg; the Tunnel to Towers Foundation later paid off the family home mortgage during its 2021 Season of Hope.