‘Beyond devastated’: Father of 7 dies in southwest valley carjacking spree
A father of seven children was one of those killed during a carjacking spree Wednesday in the southwest valley that ended in a police shootout.
Jerry Lopez, 39, died after a man in his 30s stole Lopez’s van at Durango Drive and Windmill Lane as the man tried to evade police.
“The Lopez family is beyond devastated by the senseless murder of Jerry Lopez, a beloved husband, father, and devoted Christian,” Carly Souza wrote in a statement. “He was a man who led his family through self-sacrificial love and deep commitment.”
Souza is the director of Fostering Hope, a local organization that supports foster families. Souza said that six of Jerry and Karen Lopez’s seven children were adopted through the Clark County foster care system.
Lopez, who worked as a delivery driver for a linen company, was driving his family’s van to work when he was killed, Souza said.
Before stealing Lopez’s vehicle, police said, the suspect fatally shot his mother on the 7500 block of Placid Street.
He then stole a police car and carjacked another citizen on the 8500 block of Blue Diamond Road. At Durango and Windmill, police heard a gunshot and watched the man pull a victim, later identified by his family as Lopez, out of a van. Officers fired at the van as the suspect drove away.
The chase ended at Durango and Agate Avenue, where SWAT officers found the man dead inside the van.
As of Thursday morning, the Clark County coroner’s office had not identified any of the people who died Wednesday morning.
An online fundraiser for the Lopez family had raised more than $140,000 as of Thursday evening.
Contact David Wilson at dwilson@reviewjournal.com.
