Final respects to fallen officer

Though the funeral was more than 160 miles away, Jeri Herrera of Tucumcari stood as she watched a livestream of law enforcement officers carrying away the cremains of fallen New Mexico State Police officer Justin Hare of Logan.

An estimated 2,000 people attended Hare's funeral Wednesday at Legacy Church-Central Campus in Albuquerque. At least another 800 people, such as Herrera, watched online.

Legacy Church in Tucumcari offered to show the livestream on one of its large video screens. About 15 people attended the 2 1/2-hour service there.

A suspect from South Carolina gunned down Hare, 35, the morning of March 15 west of Tucumcari as the officer stopped to help him with a flat tire. The suspect, Jaremy Smith, then stole Hare's patrol vehicle and left him for dead on a frontage road. Smith was captured two days later and federally charged. Smith also is suspected in the death of a South Carolina paramedic Phonesia Machado-Fore.

Herrera said she felt compelled to watch the service because her brother is a law-enforcement officer. She also once worked as a dispatcher for New Mexico State Police in Tucumcari.

She attends the local Legacy Church.

"I'm very honored that our Legacy family was chosen to have the service," she said.

The service

The service began with a bagpipe band filling the church with its drumbeats and tones, followed by two state police officers cradling U.S. flags and a color guard.

Among the most emotional remembrances of Hare came from four fellow NMSP officers from Hare's District 9 in Tucumcari.

Xavier Garcia said Hare "never refused to lend a helping hand to anybody" and was "brutally honest."

A tearful Garcia paused several times during his remarks, overcome by emotion.

"He will be my brother forever," he said to applause.

Michael Griego recalled when Hare, on his day off, tried to help a motorist stranded at 2 a.m. in a remote area, using his own tools.

"That's the type of person Officer Hare was," he said. "He would do anything for anybody, any time."

"He's now sitting at the right hand of the cross for eternity," Griego said to loud applause.

Victoria Martinez, NMSP administrative assistant, read a statement from Hare's family that told about him handing out breakfast burritos to fellow officers.

Hare said just two days before his death, he learned his girlfriend Daizzare was expecting a baby girl.

"I guess I was just meant to be a girl dad," he said, referring to his two other daughters Juliann, 7, and Cadence, 4.

His family vowed to keep a promise to hold a baby shower for Daizzare.

Hare's father James, mother Terry and brother Brandon shared memories of him as a prankster and as one who flirted with women even as a child.

James said his son always was trying to "get away with something."

"We always thought he'd be a politician," he said, prompting laughter.

James made it clear he didn't want gun-control legislation proposed in the wake of his son's death.

"At the end of the day, we we need to remember that Justin wasn't killed by a gun. He was killed by an evil human being who stole a gun from an honest person and then committed murder with that gun," he said, referring to the alleged theft of the South Carolina paramedic's firearm. "Taking our guns away is not the solution."

That prompted the loudest applause of the service.

"It will not save lives, because the sick, demented souls out there always will find a way to harm," James Hare continue. "That's the problem we need to fix."

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, giving remarks early in the service, said state police officers keep an office next to hers at the Roundhouse and provide her 24-hour security - "a privilege I won't take for granted."

Lujan Grisham said she visited Hare's family, who conveyed the immense pride they had in him and their state.

"Officer Hare, on behalf of my office ... know that New Mexico owes a debt of gratitude for your selfless service to our state," she said. "Today, we honor you and make a commitment that your sacrifice for New Mexico will never be forgotten. May you rest in peace."

Jason Bowie, Secretary of New Mexico Department of Public Safety, said "the outpouring has been amazing" for Hare, with officers coming from as far away as Florida to pay their respects.

"Thank you for the unwavering love of our officer," Bowie said.

Bowie said Hare's father would welcome phone calls from grieving or troubled NMSP officers.

"It's clear where Justin got his strength from - his parents," he said. "Rest in peace, brother. We've got it from here."

NMSP Chief Troy Weisler said Hare was "a prime example of what we want our officers to be."

He said Hare's last words were an offer to help a motorist - "the noblest of offers followed by the vilest of deeds."

Curtis Miller, pastor of East Mountain Cowboy Church in Edgewood, gave the eulogy.

"Heaven needed a law enforcement officer," he said. "They couldn't have had a better one. Keep the streets of heaven safe."

Holding up a New Mexico State Police challenge coin, Miller said it reminds him to pray for those who serve in law enforcement and "fight the evil."

Two videos of photographs or footage of Hare - many of them with his family or his two small children - were played during the funeral. Another video contained clips of various law enforcement departments from across the state - including Tucumcari and Quay County - saluting Hare or giving condolences.

A solitary bagpipe, then many, played "Amazing Grace" as Hare's remains and his family were escorted out of the church.

Outside, two trumpeters played "Taps," an honor guard fired a volley into the air, and state police officers gave folded U.S. flags to Hare's family.

A police radio gave an end-of-watch salute: "Officer Hare, please proceed home to your final call."

Roadside memorial

A few days before Hare's funeral, fellow officers of Hare's District 9 erected roadside memorials to him, according to Quay County Sheriff Dennis Garcia.

One memorial was placed on a guardrail near mile marker 318 of westbound Interstate 40, where Hare was shot.

A second memorial was placed near a north frontage road of I-40 just west of Montoya, where the suspect dumped Hare's body.

Feet away from the Montoya memorial, mourners had arranged rocks on the ground in the form of a cross and planted several flowers, including one in a metal container with a NMSP logo. Someone also anchored under a small rock a page from the Gospel of Matthew from the Bible.

The Montoya memorial itself consists of a cross, with a metal badge in its center that reads "NMSP Officer Justin Hare ... a loving father, son, brother, and husband." It contains "E.O.W. 3/15/2024," referring to an end-of-watch of an officer's shift, plus Hare's badge number of 304.

The badge also contains the word "Conejo," which means "rabbit" in Spanish - a reference to Hare's surname.