NEW MEXICO
A 38-year-old Ohio man who shot and killed a police officer was charged Tuesday with federal firearms and carjacking offenses, officials announced.
Jesse Denver Hanes, of Columbus, Ohio, was arrested for killing Hatch Police Officer Jose Chavez on Friday afternoon after a traffic stop on Friday in Hatch, New Mexico.
Hanes fled the scene after the shooting.
A criminal complaint gives details on the alleged crimes against Hanes.
Hanes is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence in Dona Ana County, officials said.
Hanes was arrested Tuesday afternoon by the FBI at a hospital in El Paso, Texas, where he is recuperating from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to authorities.
His initial appearance in federal court in Las Cruces, New Mexico has yet to be scheduled.
Hanes was also charged with the first-degree murder of Officer Chavez in a criminal complaint filed in state court in Doña Ana County. The state’s murder investigation is continuing.
Hanes is also facing an unrelated murder charge in Ohio.
Hanes and two male passengers fled the scene in a Lexus after allegedly shooting Chavez in the upper torso. Officer Chavez died later that night as a result of the gunshot wound.
After Hanes and his passengers parted company, Hanes stopped at a rest area near Radium Springs, New Mexico, where he allegedly shot a motorist and carjacked the motorist’s vehicle, a Chevrolet.
The motorist suffered a serious injury and remains hospitalized in stable condition.
During the incident, Hanes shot himself in the leg-groin-area.
Deputies of the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office located the Chevrolet allegedly carjacked by Hanes based on information provided by witnesses and gave chase. The chase ended when Hanes crashed the Chevrolet. After Hanes was taken into custody, a handgun, believed to be the firearm used to shoot Officer Chavez and the motorist, was recovered from the Chevrolet.
The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
According to published reports, Hanes was 16 and living in Columbus when he pleaded guilty in 1995 to involuntary manslaughter and other charges.
He was sentenced to prison and released at 32. He went to prison again in 2014 after pleading guilty to robbery and was released in April 2015.
Nelson, who also goes by “JD,” has a string of drug-related convictions in central Ohio dating back to the mid-1990s, according to reports.
Authorities said a hitchhiker jumped into a car with two Ohio fugitives before one of them fatally shot a New Mexico police officer. Tony Jones, 44, was arraigned on drug charges. He wasn’t implicated in the fatal shooting.
Jones, who is 44, has not been implicated in the shooting.
Authorities say one of the fugitives reached through a window and shot Chavez, who was standing on the passenger’s side of the car.
A Dona Ana County officials said Jones was charged with drug charges after officers obtained a search warrant and found a large amount of methamphetamine in a suitcase that Jones had with him Friday.