In the quiet, early hours of a Monday morning in Sparks, Nevada, a 46-year-old woman named Lorea Angulo was killed in an act of violence that unfolded inside a moving car. The sole witness was her own teenage daughter, who made a desperate call for help that set off a police pursuit and ended in a tragic murder-suicide.
The harrowing events began at approximately 12:39 a.m. on October 19, 2026. A teenage girl dialed 911 to report that her father had just shot her mother.
The family was driving in the vicinity of Veterans Parkway and East Greg Street when the shooting occurred. In the call, the girl told dispatchers that she was still inside the vehicle with her father, Richard Avalos-Flores, and that her mother, Lorea, was critically injured.
Sparks Police Department officers were dispatched immediately, and at about 12:47 a.m., they located the suspect’s vehicle traveling on Los Altos Parkway. When officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop, Avalos-Flores refused to comply and fled the scene. Police initiated a pursuit that moved from city streets onto the Pyramid Highway. To safely end the dangerous chase, officers performed a Pursuit Intervention Technique, or PIT maneuver, which successfully brought the fleeing vehicle to a stop. The highway was closed for approximately six hours as police managed the developing crisis.
Once the car was stopped, officers surrounded it and issued repeated commands for Avalos-Flores to surrender, but he ignored their instructions. As police approached the vehicle, they discovered the devastating outcome. Avalos-Flores had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officers quickly and safely removed the teenage daughter from the car. She was physically unharmed but had witnessed the entire traumatic ordeal.
Inside the vehicle, police found Lorea Angulo suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Officers on the scene immediately rendered emergency medical aid to both her and Avalos-Flores. Lorea was rushed by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment, but her injuries were too severe, and she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Avalos-Flores was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into the incident was handled by Sparks Police Department detectives. Given that the suspect was deceased, the case was investigated as a murder-suicide. The investigation became inactive after confirming the events, and authorities did not release further information regarding a possible motive for the shooting. The identity of the teenage daughter who bravely called for help has been withheld to protect her privacy.
The city of Sparks, a suburb of Reno, is a community of just over 100,000 residents. The incident that claimed Lorea Angulo's life was a shocking act of violence that played out across its streets, from the commercial area near Veterans Parkway to the major arterial of Pyramid Highway.
As of the latest reports in October 2026, the case is considered closed by the Sparks Police Department due to the death of the primary suspect. Although the investigation is no longer active, authorities initially urged anyone with information related to the incident to contact the Sparks Police Department or to provide an anonymous tip through Secret Witness.
