A holiday weekend in Albany ended in tragedy when 39-year-old Iris Taina Vazquez was found shot inside her vehicle on Washington Avenue near Sprague Place on the afternoon of Sunday, July 5, 2026. Emergency responders treated Vazquez at the scene, but she was pronounced dead.

Investigators moved quickly: on July 10, 2026, police executed a high-risk search warrant in Voorheesville and arrested 44-year-old Vance Mims, charging him with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Mims was arraigned and remanded to the Albany County Jail. Authorities also arrested Mims’s 43-year-old girlfriend, Glenda Barrett of Albany, charging her with hindering prosecution in the first degree; police allege she acted as a getaway driver and hid Mims at her brother’s residence until his arrest.

Officials say the killing is tied to an interpersonal feud that began after the July 4, 2025, shooting death of Mims’s son, Vance Mims III, though they emphasize Vazquez was not involved in that earlier incident. The Albany County District Attorney’s Office intends to prosecute. Anyone with information about Vazquez, the lead-up to the July 5 shooting, or the weekend’s related incidents is asked to come forward.