‘End of Watch’ for son of Lordsburg
Grieving town in disbelief over slaying of young officer, father
LORDSBURG — On the empty streets of Lordsburg, there are signs of grief everywhere.
Blue and white cups stuck in a fence spell 1251, the officer’s call sign, and EOW, for End of Watch.
Up the street firemen fix American flags, one with a blue line, to fire engines along Interstate 10.
In a neighborhood, a bright blue ribbon waves from a pole next to a parked New Mexico State Police cruiser.
The small town is reeling from the death Thursday of Lordsburg native and State Police Officer Darian Jarrott.
Authorities say the 28-yearold, a father of three, was shot and killed by Omar Felix Cueva, 39, just after noon during a traffic stop along I-10. Cueva, wearing a bulletproof vest, was killed in a wild gunbattle with authorities in Las Cruces soon after.
“It was strange ... listening to all the news and us knowing who he was,” Connie Baisa told the Journal of Jarrott’s death. “We knew right away. We were hoping it wasn’t true... It’s just very sad.”
Baisa and Margaret Chavez
— the aunt of Jarrott’s girlfriend who is carrying his fourth child — stood in front of Baisa’s house talking Friday afternoon, their eyes heavy.
Across the street at Lordsburg High School, where Jarrott graduated in 2010, a message flashed in his memory.
Baisa said the majority of men from the town grow up to be law enforcement and two other Lordsburg boys, both State Police officers, were shot at in Thursday’s incident.
“It’s very sad, very shocking, we still can’t believe it,” Baisa said. “We raised these kids. It’s just like one of our own.”
Baisa, who worked in the Lordsburg school system nearly 30 years, said she knew Jarrott all his life and went to school with his parents.
She said an article written Thursday put it perfectly.
“It said, ‘the son of Lordsburg,’ that’s very appropriate,” Baisa said.
In the tight-knit community of just under 2,500 in the Bootheel region, the Jarrott family’s ties run deep.
Those going about their business on the street or working in the yard either knew Darian Jarrott personally or knew his family. Almost everyone mentions his smile and how he “always” seemed happy. In high school, Jarrott waited tables at local diner Kranberry’s Chatterbox, where his father, John, has worked for 30 years. He was a state champion football player for the Mavericks.
Louie Baisa, retired Mavericks coach, said in a 27-year career, Jarrott stood out.
“You know — and not because he passed away — he was one of the best kids I ever had,” he said. “One of those guys that, if you have 10, 15 of those on your team, then you’re good because they’re going to work hard ... I think the world of him, and it’s just so sad.”
Maureen Thornock, owner of Kranberry’s Chatterbox, said Lordsburg is not used to such tragedy.
“Here we have somebody who is so young and has made something of his life and to be taken — in such a senseless way,” she said. “We’re just not used to it, we heard about this on the news in Albuquerque, Chicago, other places, but for someone here? We’re shocked.”
Thornock added, “These kids are your kids, you’ve tattled on them when they were little, you know what trouble they’re getting into. You’ve watched them grow up.”
DJ Saucedo, a close family friend for decades, said Jarrott pulled into the Pilot gas station he works at for a fill up on Wednesday.
He yelled “Darian!” out the front door and Jarrott stuck a peace sign out the window of his police cruiser. Then he drove away.
“That was the last time I saw him,” the 46-year-old said.
Then, on Thursday, Saucedo said three State Police vehicles roared into the station, filled up and sped off without so much as a “hello.”
“I was like ‘something’s not right,’ ” Saucedo said.
Saucedo said his girlfriend was working at Kranberry’s Chatterbox when John Jarrott got the call, yelling “What?!” repeatedly into the phone before speeding off in his car. From there, the news spread fast. “I mean, if it had been any cop, but then it’s a cop that we know, and Darian — the whole community was just whoosh,” he said, imitating the air going out of a balloon.
He said John Jarrott, one of his best friends, is “in disbelief” and all of Lordsburg is devastated.
“Right now, in this town everybody is just rallying around them. It’s a small town but when something tragic happens — the community stands up. That’s for sure,” he said.
Saucedo said he’s known Darian since he was born and fondly recalled gathering the families, diehard Cowboys fans, to watch the game every Sunday.
And the smile came up again.
“I’m sure you’ve heard about his smile,” Saucedo said with a grin. “I don’t know if it’s because he had perfect teeth or because he just loved to smile.”
Aside from being an officer, Saucedo said Jarrott’s life was his kids.
“Everything was just kids, kids, kids. He was a great dad,” he said of Jarrott.
Saucedo later added, “he was probably further along as an adult, at 28, than 90% of the kids I ever coached — and including myself.”
As the years went by, he said Jarrott never put Lordsburg or his family in the rear view.
When Jarrott was in the State Police academy, he would drive the five hours from Santa Fe, back and forth, every weekend just to spend a day and a half with his family.
He said Jarrott got stationed for a handful of years in Carlsbad at first and started a family of his own. And when a position opened up in Deming six months ago, he took it.
“He wanted to kind of go back home — I think he was trying to get back to Lordsburg,” Saucedo said.
The sun rolled off the edge of the desert and the sky darkened Friday as dozens of State Police vehicles pulled out from the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque.
A chaplain stood on the sidewalk as, one by one, the rows of flashing lights passed by, a cross clutched in his hand.
Somewhere amongst the procession, Darian Jarrott was headed back south, back home.