A 21-year-old man drowned an hour after his baptism while trying to rescue a teenage girl struggling to stay afloat in 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, but also began to struggle in the water, The Waxahachie Police Department said.
A boater pulled the girl from the lake and performed CPR, reviving her. She and Lopez were rushed to a local hospital where he was 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,” he 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.”
Bell told the outlet that his brother drowned when he was just three years old, and he couldn’t imagine the pain Lopez’s family is experiencing.
“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.
