SANTA FE, N.M. (NEWSnet/AP) — A suspect in the shooting death of a police officer was captured in a confrontation Sunday with law enforcement officers in the Albuquerque area, New Mexico State Police said.

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office caught 33-year-old Jaremy Smith of Marion, South Carolina, in a pursuit involving gunfire on Sunday, State Police spokesman Ray Wilson said.

Friday's fatal shooting of State Police Officer Justin Hare spurred a search that eventually focused on Smith, who was linked to a car that belonged to a woman killed in his home state.

Authorities said Hare was dispatched about 5 a.m. Friday to help a driver in a BMW with a flat tire on Interstate 40, west of Tucumcari.

Hare parked behind the car, and a man got out, approached the patrol car on the passenger side and shot the officer. They said the motorist then walked to the driver’s side of the police vehicle, shot Hare again, pushed him into the back seat and fled in the patrol vehicle.

State Police later learned the BMW was reported missing in South Carolina and that it belonged to a woman who was killed there, paramedic Phonesia Machado-Fore.

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