Officials: Suspect in Tahoe City homicide committed suicide

TRUCKEE, Calif. — A man suspected in the fatal shooting of a 33-year-old man in Tahoe City Saturday, died in an apparent suicide, authorities said.

“Detectives have been continuously investigating the homicide that occurred at the Boatworks Mall on Saturday evening,” a Placer County Sheriff’s Office news release states. “We have identified a suspect in this case. That person, Salvador Murillo-Cabrera, 52, of Reno, is now deceased and apparently committed suicide.

“We are awaiting ballistic results to confirm that Cabrera was responsible for this crime.”

On Saturday, officials reported 33-year-old Octavio Villa Villanueva of Sparks, Nevada was shot in the Boatworks Mall parking lot and later died. Shots were reported at 5 p.m. Saturday, according to the North Tahoe Fire Protection District.

According to the release, detectives have learned that the victim and suspect were former co-workers at a restaurant near the Boatworks Mall in Tahoe City.

“Their relationship was acrimonious because the suspect believed the victim was having an affair with his wife,” the release states. “However, we have no information that this was actually true.

“We have learned Murillo-Cabrera was seen at the location of the shooting moments before the murder and a car similar to one owned by him was seen fleeing the scene of the crime at a high rate of speed moments after the homicide occurred.”

On Sunday, Murillo-Cabrera was located at the St. Peter Canisius Catholic Church in the Sun Valley area of Reno, and had apparently committed suicide inside a restroom during church service, officials said.

“The handgun in his possession at the church is the same caliber weapon containing the same brand of ammunition used in the Tahoe City homicide,” the release states. “We are waiting on lab results to definitively determine if the gun used in the apparent suicide is the same weapon used in our homicide.”