Suspects face charges in trio of shootings
Two men were seriously wounded – one near Ephrata, the other in Quincy – in separate, unrelated shootings this week that led to arrests by area law enforcement.
EPHRATA – Two men were seriously wounded – one near Ephrata, the other in Quincy – in separate, unrelated shootings this week that led to arrests by area law enforcement.
And an arrest warrant was issued today charging a local man – currently housed in the Kittitas County Jail – with second-degree murder in connection with a third unrelated fatal shooting in Quincy last May.
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Shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, the county MACC dispatch center received a call from a woman who said her boyfriend had been shot by their landlord at a location in the 13300 block of Road A.5-NW, southeast of Ephrata.
The woman said they arrived at the property in a vehicle and her boyfriend, 39-year-old David Segura Lopez, was removing a chain lock from a driveway fence when the landlord, identified as 39-year-old Francisco Javier Buenrostro, allegedly approached with a handgun and shot Segura in the stomach, according to a report by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.
Segura returned to the vehicle and was transported to Columbia Basin Hospital for initial medical care, then transferred to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. A sheriff’s deputy who responded to the local hospital said Segura was conscious and identified Buenrostro as his assailant, the report stated.
No motive was specified.
Deputies and Ephrata and Quincy police searched the area and Buenrostro was eventually located and detained following a traffic stop in the 7500 block of State Route 281. He was booked into the Grant County Jail on suspicion of first-degree assault.
Buenrostro made an initial appearance today (Friday, Jan. 16) in superior court, where he pled not guilty to the charge and a March 4 trial was scheduled. He currently remains in custody in lieu of $75,000 bail and was ordered to have no contact with Segura or his girlfriend.
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Quincy police investigated a shooting reported around 7:35 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 12, near the intersection of J Street and Third Avenue S.E.
The alleged victim, 42-year-old Saul Gamboa, was contacted at Quincy Valley Medical Center. Gamboa initially told police he was walking near Pioneer Elementary School when he heard a “pop,” realized he had been shot in the right side of the neck, but did not know who shot him. An x-ray showed a small-caliber bullet lodged near his spine and he was later transferred to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, according to a QPD report.
But other family members at the Quincy hospital told an investigator that Gamboa had taken his mother to work that morning by car and was shot afterward by a cousin who had accompanied them, then possibly stole the vehicle.
The cousin was identified as 23-year-old Thomy Contreras of Los Angeles, California. Police were subsequently notified that the car, an Acura MDX, had been located in Yakima and Contreras had been taken into custody after a short vehicle pursuit. A .22-caliber firearm was allegedly found in the car.
Contreras was returned to Grant County, booked into jail and made an initial appearance Tuesday in superior court when he pled not guilty to felony charges of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon and theft of a motor vehicle. He currently remains jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail pending a March 4 trial.
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Today (Jan. 16), Superior Court Judge Anna Gigliotti issued an arrest warrant requested by Grant County Prosecutor Brandon Guernsey that charges 41-year-old Lorenzo Longoria with second-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of a Quincy man last spring.
Bail was set at $1 million.
Longoria, who has residences listed in both Ephrata and Quincy, is currently incarcerated in the Kittitas County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail after being arrested in September on charges of first-degree burglary, second-degree theft, and four counts of theft of a firearm.
The shooting victim, Joshua David Avalos, 33, was found deceased from multiple gunshot wounds on May 15, 2025 in the 200 block of I Street S.W. in Quincy.
The subsequent murder charge against Longoria stems from a lengthy investigation by Quincy police that included numerous interviews with acquaintances, video footage and cell photo data gathered from multiple locations, and state crime lab analyses.
On the date that Avalos was found dead, authorities allege that he, Longoria, and a third man were involved in the early morning theft of a four-wheeler from the Crescent Bar area that later sparked an argument. Longoria and Avalos then reportedly returned to Quincy and informed an acquaintance they were going to go smoke methamphetamine together. About 15 minutes later, police were told, multiple gunshots were heard.
In the aftermath, no suspects were immediately identified, but several individuals alleged that Longoria was a potential suspect and Quincy police interviewed him last August at the Grant County Jail, where he was being held on unrelated charges. At the time, Longoria said he and Avalos were good friends and that he had no contact with Avalos on the night of the homicide. Longoria also denied involvement in September when questioned again by investigators, this time at the Kittitas County Jail.
In October, corrections staff there notified police of a jailhouse phone call between Longoria and an acquaintance referring to a handgun in a fanny pack hidden at a friend’s house in the 300 block of Sixth Avenue S.E. in Ephrata.
Neither a gun or fanny pack were located during a subsequent warranted search, but an occupant at the residence confirmed that the fanny pack had existed, the police report stated.
