Quincy man arrested for 2025 murder

QUINCY — Lorenzo Longoria, 41, of Quincy has been booked into Grant County Jail for murder in the second degree regarding a case that began in May 2025.

“This was a fairly complex investigation,” Quincy Police Department Detective Damon Powell said. “We actually developed probable cause for Lorenzo in the summer of last year, but because of time restraints once we made the arrest, the prosecutors wanted us to hold off a little bit longer. But then he committed the crime in Kittitas County; it gave us the opportunity to assist them and make an arrest on their case and help us keep him under wraps until we were able to get that additional information the prosecutors were looking for.”

According to the Quincy Police Department’s probable cause statement, officers were dispatched to the 200 block of I Street Southwest in Quincy on May 15, 2025. Officers discovered Joshua David Avalos, 34, deceased at the scene. Several gun casings were also discovered at the scene.

Powell said Longoria, Avalos and one other subject had stolen a four-wheeler, and then things escalated.

“From our investigation, we are assuming they got territorial over the four-wheeler and who was going to get the money for selling it. That is our understanding, at this time,” Powell said.

Powell said the department was originally investigating a different subject for the homicide, but that subject had an alibi. Further investigation led them to look into Longoria.

In the course of the several-month investigation, QPD established probable cause to arrest Longoria for second-degree murder (intentional). Powell said QPD has been unable to show there was a plan to commit the homicide, which would have incurred a first-degree murder charge.

“We were close, but we were not comfortable that we were all the way there,” Powell said. “That charge can be amended now that the prosecutors have the full report and all the information, if they choose.”

Longoria was being housed at the Kittitas County Jail for four counts of theft of a firearm, second-degree theft and first-degree burglary. He was transferred to the custody of Grant County Jail on Monday morning, according to the Grant County Jail roster.

Powell said there was no threat to the public during the investigation.

“That was in part why we felt comfortable, holding up on his arrest immediately, because we felt there was no active threat to the community in any way,” Powell said. “The suspect and the victim knew each other, and it had stemmed from a crime they committed together.”

Longoria is being held with a bail of $1 million for the murder charge. He was also booked on a Grant County District Court warrant with a bail of $1,721.50, according to the Grant County Jail roster.