Slain NMSP officer to be laid to rest Friday in Lordsburg

LORDSBURG, New Mexico — Funeral services are set for Friday for a New Mexico State Police officer who was fatally shot on Interstate 10 by an attacker last week.

A private funeral mass for 28-year-old Darian Jarrott will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at the Lordsburg High School Football Field.

The funeral home handling the arrangements said only immediate family and New Mexico State Police personnel would be allowed to attend. NMSP was working on arrangements for a video feed to be made available for public viewing.

Immediately following the service, Jarrott will be buried at the Shakespeare Cemetery in Lordsburg. The burial will also be a private event.

In an obituary and funeral announcement posted online Tuesday by Bacas Funeral Chapels said Jarrott "always had an interest in law enforcement." He joined the NMSP in 2015 after previously working as state transportation inspector and local law enforcement officer.

Officer Jarrott was killed last Thursday in a highway-stop confrontation linked by authorities to drug trafficking that touched off a 40-mile police chase between Deming and Las Cruces. Jarrott's attacker was later killed in a shootout with police, where a Las Cruces officer was also wounded.

Jarrott leaves behind three small children with his fourth child expected to be born later this year.

“Darian Jarrott was an amazing man. He was an amazing son, uncle, father and police officer,” Gabriella Jarrott, whom Jarrott shared two kids with, said at a news conference over the weekend. “He wore his dad cape loud and proud. And would do anything for his children just to hear them laugh or to see them smile.”

She said he loved being a police officer, but his favorite job was being a father.

“He told me how at the end of his work day, his favorite thing was opening up that door and having his kids run to his legs to give him big hugs and welcome him home after a long day. His children have lost their best friend,” Gabriella Jarrott said.

The funeral home said tributes by way of sending flowers to the family or planting a tree in Jarrott's memory were welcomed and can be arranged by clicking here.

(ABC affiliate KOAT in Albuquerque contributed to this report.)