A Georgia man has pleaded guilty to killing a woman at the Sky City Travel Center gas station on Acoma Pueblo, admitting he shot her twice in the parking lot before stealing her SUV and trading gunfire with law enforcement along Interstate 40. Jaquari Porter, 26, of Loganville, Georgia, now faces up to life in prison for carjacking resulting in death and using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
According to Albuquerque Journal, surveillance video captured the attack at about 10:28 p.m. on February 1, 2025, showing Porter walk up behind the woman in the Sky City Travel Center parking lot, raise a firearm and shoot her in the back. He then walked over to her and shot her again, the footage showed, according to the criminal complaint. Authorities have not released the woman's identity.
After the shooting, Porter drove off in the victim's SUV and headed west on I-40, where he got into a chase with the Cibola County Sheriff's Office, the newspaper reports, citing the criminal complaint. Deputies and Grants police officers deployed stop sticks to force him to a stop. Porter got out of the vehicle and ran, then opened fire on law enforcement, who returned fire and struck him in the arm and back. The officers involved were unharmed.
Earlier Reporting Detailed the Chase and Charges
The pursuit and shootout were also detailed in earlier local coverage. The station's report noted that a separate account from Cibola Citizen described the suspect as hospitalized after being shot and injured by law enforcement near mile marker 81 on I-40, where he exited the stolen vehicle and opened fire on officers before being taken into custody.
That earlier reporting identified Porter as 24 years old, while the Albuquerque Journal's more recent account of his guilty plea lists him as 26; the discrepancy is not resolved in the available records. A subsequent grand jury indictment, also reported by Cibola Citizen, detailed multiple felony charges Porter faced locally, including assault with intent to commit a violent felony on a peace officer, aggravated fleeing, shooting from a motor vehicle, and receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle. That report said Porter remained in custody after a court granted pretrial preventive detention on February 28, 2025.
Federal Plea Moves Case Toward Sentencing
Tessa Duberry, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Mexico, said in a news release that Porter pleaded guilty to the federal charges. The evidence reviewed does not specify a sentencing date or the exact sentence Porter will ultimately receive, only that he faces a maximum of life in prison on the carjacking resulting in death charge.
The case remains notable for the violence that unfolded across two scenes 21 months and 4 days before November 5, 2026 — first at a quiet Acoma Pueblo gas station, then along a stretch of interstate where officers risked their own safety to stop an armed, fleeing suspect. With the guilty plea now entered, Porter faces a maximum of life in prison on the carjacking resulting in death charge.
