Lincer Lopez drowns one hour after own baptism trying to save drowning teen girl at Texas’s Lake Waxahachie. Deceased man and rescued girl were part of a church group.
A 21-year-old man drowned an hour after his own baptism trying to rescue a teenage girl struggling to stay afloat at a north Texas lake.
Lincer Lopez had just been baptized in Lake Waxahachie on Saturday afternoon when the girl began to drown at around 12:45 p.m., Lopez’s family told WFAA.
Lopez immediately jumped in to help her, only to also begin to struggle in the water, The Waxahachie Police Department stated in a release.
A boater pulled the girl from the lake and performed CPR, reviving her. Both her and Lopez were rushed to a local hospital only for Lopez to be pronounced dead.
‘He was a hero,’ Lopez’s uncle, Jacobo Lopez, told WFAA in Spanish.
‘He didn’t think twice about rescuing someone else. He didn’t think about the risk that he could die. And he did risk his life to save somebody else’s,’ the relative added.
Lopez and the teenage girl were both part of a large church group from Garland who had been enjoying the lake after multiple baptisms were performed.
The 21-year-old had been so excited about his baptism that he wasn’t able to sleep the night before, his uncle said.
Jacob Bell, the boater who pulled the girl from the lake and gave her CPR, was still reeling after saving her life.
‘I haven’t really begun to — it hasn’t sunk in yet,’ he told WFAA. ‘It’s hard.’
‘He was a hero, he had just been baptized and gave his life to the lord, and our family, we pray for his family, and we pray for the little girl’s family,’ Bell said.
‘And he was a strong boy, they should be very proud of him.’
Lopez’s family said he worked in construction and would send money back to his parents and siblings still living in Mexico. They’ve launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to send his body to them.
Waxahachie is located about 30 miles south of Dallas in northern Texas.
