Murder, car chase may be linked (with video)

The car involved in a high-speed chase Wednesday evening in Carson City may be connected to the suspect in the Mother's Day shooting in Washoe Valley, investigators said Thursday.

Suspected drug trafficker Jaime Lopez, 20, was arrested Wednesday after leading police on a 15-minute chase through east Carson City in a black Dodge Neon with stock rims.

According to investigators, the girlfriend of murder suspect Steven Contreras told them Sunday that Contreras had been driving a black or gray Dodge Neon with stock rims before the shooting.

Contreras is being held in Washoe County Jail without bail on suspicion of first-degree murder and attempted murder. He is suspected of fatally shooting Carson teen Rene Angulo and wounding Wayne Nash, 51, after Nash stopped to help Sunday afternoon on U.S. 395 in Washoe Valley.

Contreras fled in Angulo's Honda Accord and ditched the car on Old Highway 395. Police found him naked and hiding in the brush.

A preliminary hearing has been set for May 27.

'Shot at gorilla'

According to Washoe County Detective Capt. Dave Nikoley, after his arrest Contreras told investigators that earlier Sunday, he'd "shot at a gorilla" in his hotel room in the Gold Dust West on Highway 50 East.

Officers located Contreras's girlfriend and her two small children in the hotel room, along with silencers for weapons. There was a bullet hole in the wall, said Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong.

Furlong said they were unable to recover the bullet because of concrete behind the wall.

The girlfriend, whose name has not been released, told investigators that Contreras was driving a black or gray Dodge Neon with stock rims, said Furlong, but officers couldn't find the vehicle Sunday night.

Then Wednesday night, a Carson City deputy tried to stop a black Dodge Neon with stock rims driven by Lopez, who was wanted on a felony warrant. Lopez fled, leading officers from four jurisdictions on a 15-minute high-speed chase that ended in an accident and Lopez's arrest.

Lopez is currently jailed on suspicion of felony eluding causing property damage, battery with a deadly weapon, resisting a peace officer and a warrant for felony drug trafficking.

Furlong said the vehicle descriptions and lifestyles of both suspects are too much of a coincidence to be ignored.

Contreras, also known as Victor Rodriguez, 24, was convicted in 2005 of accessory to murder for his part in a 2004 killing on Eighth Street in Carson City. In exchange for the plea, a charge of drug trafficking, related to weapons and methamphetamine found in a storage unit rented to Contreras, was dismissed, court records indicate.

Suspect deported

Contreras received probation and was deported from the country immediately after the sentencing, according to Greg White of the Reno office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Lopez was convicted on a methamphetamine drug trafficking charge when he was 18 and deported, said Carson City Sheriff's Sgt. Brian Humphrey.

When officers heard recently that Lopez was back in Carson City, the arrest warrant was generated and officers began to look for him.

"We've been chasing Jaime for almost two months now," said Humphrey.

Furlong said that beyond the vehicle description, a connection between Lopez and Contreras has yet to be established.

Washoe County investigators also are unable to find a connection between victim Angulo, who up until the week before his death was a junior at Carson High School, and Contreras, a known gang member and suspected drug dealer.

Nikoley said surveillance video at the El Pollo Loco on Highway 50 East, just west of the Gold Dust West, shows Angulo entering his 1990 Honda Accord alone at 12:20 p.m. At 12:35 p.m. he'd been shot to death and left on the side of the road, with Contreras allegedly fleeing in the Accord.