OCT 2021 Blues Vol 37 No. 10.1

WORDS BY BRIAN WHITEHEAD
Fallen Marine, Hunter Lopez ‘died a
hero,’ friend says at funeral.
One day years ago, Juan Carlos
Lopez walked into his nephew’s
bedroom and noticed a day circled
on his calendar.
Graduation.
“Uncle J.C.,” Lopez recalled his
then-teenage nephew telling
him, “When I graduate, I’m letting
you know now I’m going to
be a Marine.”
Among the many reasons U.S.
Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez was
beloved, he never rescinded a
promise, family and friends recalled
Saturday, September 18,
during a memorial service at the
Palm Springs Convention Center
honoring and thanking the fallen
22-year-old Indio native.
“Hunter always had a plan
and was able to execute,” longtime
friend Nick Conway said.
“There aren’t many people from
our generation that have that
strength and discipline. He was
the kind of friend you always
wanted by your side, the kind of
friend who would do anything
for you.”
Heroism marked the final moments
of Lopez’s life, Riverside
County Sheriff’s Lt. Tim Brause
said Saturday.
The 2017 La Quinta High School
graduate was one of 13 U.S.
service-members killed in an
attack at the Kabul airport last
month as the U.S was pulling out
of Afghanistan. Two other Inland
Empire Marines, Lance Cpl. Kareem
Nikoui, of Norco; and Lance
Cpl. Dylan Merola, of Rancho
Cucamonga, also were killed.
Brause and others noted that,
on that afternoon, Lopez was
rescuing young girls from a rioting
mob before the blast took
his life.
“He died a hero saving the lives
of those he did not know,” Conway
said.
Saturday’s memorial began
with a prayer and a song.
The hundreds of family members,
friends, law enforcement
officials and service men and
women in attendance, as well
as those watching a livestream
on YouTube and Facebook, then
watched a slideshow of photos
chronicling Lopez’s 22 years, set
to the alternative rock songs, “Mr.
Brightside,” by The Killers; and
“Best of You,” by Foo Fighters.
“There aren’t enough words to
express how much of a hero my
nephew was,” Juan Carlos Lopez
said, “not only to his country,
but to his extended family and
friends.”
Lopez, the eldest of three children,
was part of a special crisis
response team sent to provide
security and help State Department
officials process thousands
of people a day at the airport
gates. His mother, Alicia Lopez, is
a Riverside County deputy sheriff
and Riverside Sheriff’s Association
board secretary. His father,
Riverside County Sheriff’s Capt.
Herman Lopez, is La Quinta’s
police chief.
86 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 87