LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A retired Las Cruces police officer riding a motorcycle was killed in a collision with a carjacked vehicle and authorities say two suspects from Colorado are in custody.
New Mexico State Police say an SUV involved in the collision that killed J.R. Stewart allegedly was carjacked Monday by 34-year-old Daniel Allen Lowell and 32-year-old Trista Marie Schlaefli, both of Colorado Springs.
The two reportedly fled earlier from a Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 10 west of Las Cruces in a stolen pickup truck.
State Police say pursuing Border Patrol agents reported seeing the two suspects carjack the SUV from a family at gunpoint before the vehicle exited I-25 in Las Cruces.
Officers arrested Lowell and Schlaefli as they allegedly tried to carjack another vehicle after the fatal collision.