Man 'shot and killed his mother at dinner table then danced with sister next to mother's body'
Utah man is charged with murder after he ‘shot and killed his mother at the dinner table then danced with his sister next to their mother’s body’
- Mike Lopez allegedly shot his mother dead at home in Springville, UT, on Dec. 23
- Lopez entered kitchen where Victoria Ramirez, 43, was with his sisters, 14 and 17
- 14-year-old sister allegedly nodded to brother before both girls exited the room
- ‘I know you’re going to kill me, and I love you,’ Ramirez told Lopez before he allegedly fired a shotgun shell into her neck and face, killing her almost instantly
- Younger sister returned to stroke mother’s hair and Lopez took her by arm and the pair started dancing next to their mother’s bleeding corpse, affidavit says
- 17-year-old sister was able to escape through window and police were alerted
A Utah man has been charged with murder after he shot his mother at the dinner table and then danced with his 14-year-old sister next to her bleeding corpse, court documents state.
Mike Lopez, 23, walked into the kitchen where his two sisters, aged 14 and 17, were sitting with their mother Victoria Ramirez, 43, at their home in Springville on December 23.
Lopez sat down with them and pointed a shotgun at his mother before turning to his 14-year-old sister who nodded at him, a police affidavit says.
The girl then got up and locked herself in an adjacent bathroom while Lopez’s elder sister also left but remained outside the door.
‘I know you’re going to kill me, and I love you,’ Ramirez is said to have told her son before he ‘fired a single shot, striking her in the neck and face, killing her almost instantly.’
The 14-year-old then returned to the room where she started stroking her mother’s hair before Lopez took her by the arm and began dancing with her, according to the affidavit.
Mike Lopez, 23, walked into the dining room where his two sisters, aged 14 and 17, were sitting with their mother Victoria Ramirez, 43, at their home in Springville, Utah
The 17-year-old locked herself in the bathroom where she escaped through the window and phoned a relative who then alerted the police.
When officers arrived Lopez was sitting in a filled bathtub with the shotgun resting against the tub.
Victoria Ramirez, 43, is said to have told her son: ‘I know you’re going to kill me, and I love you’
While being booked into Utah County jail an officer informed him that he was being charged with his mother’s murder to which ‘he nodded his head affirmatively and began to cry. He subsequently told the officer, “Someone told me to do it,”‘ the court papers say.
Lopez had marijuana in his system and the 17-year-old sister told officers she believed that her brother had been smoking the drugs with the 14-year-old sister.
‘She stated Mike has been acting really strange lately where he has been meditating a lot where he claims to go to different dimensions and talking about a lot of bad people,’ the affidavit states.
The sister said that Lopez bought a handgun and a shotgun the day before he shot their mother.
Officers noted that the 14-year-old girl ‘was acting very strange’ during her interview.
She told detectives she and Lopez ‘have been together a lot lately and they take turns sleeping so they can watch over one another.’
The girl claimed it was not her mother who had been shot and smiled when she was asked about dancing with Lopez in the aftermath.
The document says that she started to sing a song during the interview and ‘did not show any emotion.’
Lopez is charged with murder, a first-degree felony, plus domestic violence in the presence of a child and possession of a weapon by a restricted person, both third-degree felonies.
On Monday, the case was transferred to the 4th District Court in American Fork.
He will next appear in court on January 12.
