ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Jaremy Smith was arrested in the middle of a southwest Albuquerque neighborhood Sunday.

Christina Chavez told KOB 4 Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office arrested Smith right in her backyard, just feet from her and her children.

On Monday, we went back to that neighborhood to see how neighbors are feeling. They told us this isn’t the first time they’ve witnessed gunfire so close to home.

“We’ve had lots of random gunfire, lots of drive-by shootings,” said a neighbor who wants to remain anonymous.

She shared her experience after fugitive Smith was caught just feet from her home.

“Exactly, yeah, 50 feet. Exactly so, scary. Glad it’s over,” said the neighbor. “He walked right past our front of our house and then bolted through the neighbor’s yards. Pretty scary, that close.”

She told us, at the time, she was at church but her husband and son were home.

“My husband and son were home and heard commotion outside, and then heard the dogs barking, and heard yelling and gunshots. And later on I got called, and my husband confirmed to me that they had caught the fugitive that was, you know, that they had been looking for who killed the state police officer,” she said. 

When she came home, she said police blocked off the area for hours, until about 8 or 9 p.m. Sunday.

“My neighbor next door called and was like, ‘What’s going on? There’s the police are here, and I just heard dogs and gunfire.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, stay in until we figure it out,’” said the neighbor. 

She says gunfire isn’t the only issue the neighborhood faces almost daily.

“We always get people in and out this road. Going 50+ miles an hour sometimes, and my husband’s vehicle has been totaled in our driveway from people being chased through our neighborhood. So yeah, it’s been a rough few years in this neighborhood, so this was just an icing on the cake experience,” she said. 

Going forward, she says all they can do is be more vigilant.

“We got cameras, and the last few years, everybody around us has put cameras out trying to just be watchful and mindful of one another. That’s all we can be now,” she said. 

The neighbor says while it was a scary situation, she’s glad police were able to catch him. She also told us her heart goes out to the families impacted.