In the quiet neighborhood of northwest Oklahoma City, a horrific tragedy unfolded on August 16, 2023, claiming the life of 5-year-old Damaris Armendariz, a young Hispanic girl. The devastating event, which also took the lives of her mother and two siblings, was later determined by police to be a murder-suicide.
That evening, a family member discovered a shocking scene at a residence near Northwest 5th Terrace.
Inside the home, Damaris, her 9-year-old sister Hillary, 2-year-old brother Matias, and their 29-year-old mother, Cassandra Flores, were found with gunshot wounds. The suspected shooter was identified as 28-year-old Ruben Armendariz, the children's father and Cassandra's estranged husband.
According to the investigation, Ruben Armendariz shot and killed his estranged wife and their three children inside the home. He then went into the front yard and turned the gun on himself. When police arrived, Cassandra Flores and two of the children were pronounced dead at the scene. Damaris and her father were transported to a local hospital in critical condition but later succumbed to their injuries.
The Oklahoma City Police Department investigated the deaths and concluded that it was a quadruple murder-suicide. As the sole suspect in the killings, Ruben Armendariz, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, no arrests were made in the case. The investigation was subsequently closed, leaving a community to mourn the loss of an entire family.
