WINNEMUCCA — Local law enforcement officials found main suspect in murder and attempted murder case at Raven’s Bar, Ty Victor Albisu, deceased by self-inflicted injuries on June 21 in Humboldt County. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) and Winnemucca Police Department (WPD) confirmed that there is no longer a danger to the community and that Albisu is the only suspect in the murder of Linda Walker Albisu, 61, and the attempted murder of Dylan Hobbs, 21, on June 18, on account of witness and victim statements.
Officers arrived at the bar expecting an active shooter, but Albisu had fled the scene and officers had to give medical attention to the victims, according to WPD Lt. Jeff Murdock.
According to Sheriff Mike Allen, Albisu passed a HCSO deputy early Sunday morning, June 19, on U.S. Highway 95, headed towards the McDermitt area. After proper resources were attained, the HCSO, WPD, the Tri-County Special Response Team—including the Pershing and Lander County Sheriff’s Offices — the Elko Consolidated SWAT team, the Reno Consolidated Bomb Squad, and even a local private land owner utilizing their own airplane, worked around the clock to apprehend the suspect. The outstanding community support led officers to the knowledge that Albisu was in the Orovada area, where he was pursued by law enforcement near the Cordero Mine road until he bailed from his vehicle and officers lost visual sight in the remote area. Officials obtained tips that it was likely that Albisu had two firearms with him, as one had already been recovered from his vehicle. Another tip from a local advised a sighting on their property, which neighbors Albisu’s property in McDermitt. The officers felt confident that the suspect was trying to go to his residence, where they had posted officers.
“Our main objective throughout the case was to ensure the safety and protection of McDermitt residences,” said Sheriff Allen. “We still had to maintain a public safety presence and we were juggling a lot of priorities, but the community came together and provided vital leads."
On the afternoon of June 21, law enforcement found Albisu deceased at a location not yet released to the public, according to law enforcement officials.
“Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s preliminarily determined that Albisu suffered a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound and was transported to the Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy and confirmation,” said Lt. Murdock.
The Major Crimes Unit (MCU) for the state of Nevada is conducting the fundamental investigation with the help of local and neighboring law enforcement entities, due to the strain large-scale cases such as this put on local law enforcement and their daily responsibilities to maintain public safety. According to Lt. Murdock, the MCU will assess more evidence obtained by search warrant from the suspects vehicle and property and make their concluding edicts.
“This is still an active investigation, but there are no outstanding threats or other suspects,” he said.
Local law enforcement released multiple statements throughout the ordeal to the public regarding the case to keep citizens both informed and secure in their safety.
“We want to be good partners with the media and the community to get out accurate information in a timely manner," said. Lt. Murdock. "We never want to withhold information that the public has a right to know. During an active investigation we do not want to jeopardize an investigation by releasing too much information. We want to release what we can so that the public can keep themselves safe and be informed, but not jeopardize the investigation for the victims."
Murdock said that good communication was instrumental in this case being solved.
"Humboldt County Dispatch was super important to the case because that’s our go-between. We use contact with them to run our information and they connect us all together,” explained Murdock. “I think a learning opportunity for all of us was that when things like this happen, none of us are experts, especially in a small rural community and it takes all of us working together and the relationships we have been working on with the FBI, ATF, the U.S. Marshall service and other entities were all coming into play.”
“We are very fortunate to have the community’s support and the law enforcement resources available,” added Sheriff Allen.