'We're gonna miss you, Adrian': Family, friends, community say final farewells to Officer Lopez

Family, friends and colleagues of White Mountain Apache police Officer Adrian Lopez Sr. gathered in Whiteriver on Thursday to say their goodbyes.

The 35-year-old was shot and killed on June 2 while conducting a traffic stop on East Fork Road in Whiteriver. It marked Arizona's first line of duty death so far this year. 

Lopez's funeral service was held at the Chief Alchesay Activity Center at 10 a.m. after a procession led Lopez's casket and members of his family through the community. His wife and two children were in attendance on Thursday but did not speak during the service.

A few hundred people filled the bleachers inside the center on Thursday, including officers from departments across the state and the White Mountain Apache Police Department. Many residents in attendance wore shirts made in Lopez's honor, bearing his name and end of watch date.

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez was also in attendance on Thursday, his spokesperson Jared Touchin told The Arizona Republic.

An American flag was draped over Lopez's casket as it lay in front of a stage decorated with red, white and blue flowers. A White Mountain Apache Tribe seal hung overheard as its recently elected Chairman Kasey Velasquez spoke to the crowd.

"As a former law enforcement officer myself, I can tell you that every time an officer hugs and kisses his beloved wife or children goodbye, it is with full knowledge that this could be the last embrace," Velasquez said.

"We cannot begin to imagine your incredible sorrow, but we want you to know that as a community, the White Mountain Apache Tribe is grieving alongside you," he continued, directing his words to Lopez's family sitting in the first two rows. "It is going to be hard, life will never be the same for you, but you will arise and walk again and you lives will make Officer Lopez proud."

Few details about Lopez's personal background were revealed during the service. But a funeral program said he was born in Los Angeles in 1986. His wife, Lushana Lopez, told ABC15 earlier this week that they'd been married for 10 years and that he had served in the Army.

She said they moved from Los Angeles to Wyoming, where Lopez eventually became a police officer, which was a dream of his, Lushana Lopez told the news organization.

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Lopez had only begun working for the tribe's Police Department in January. He previously worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs from March to December last year. The White Mountain Apache Police Department in a Facebook post earlier this year said he was "a lateral transfer" from the Wind River Reservation in Crowheart, Wyoming, which has a police department that's operated by the bureau, according to Wyoming Public Radio. 

Pastor Marty Paxson, of the Whiteriver Assembly of God, said during the service that Lopez made a large impact on the community during his short time at the Police Department. He gave presentations at the local schools and interacted with the community’s youth, Paxson said.

“Personally, I don’t know him, maybe he pulled me over a couple of times, I don’t know,” he said, drawing a few giggles from the people in attendance. “But it breaks my heart as a pastor to know that we have to go through this again, we have to face this again.”

Two years ago, White Mountain Apache police Officer David Kellywood was shot and killed in the line of duty. It devastated the tight-knit community, said community members at the time, including Kellywood’s wife, Kamellia Kellywood, and their two sons.

White Mountain Apache police Chief Theodore Shaw also spoke briefly at Thursday's service, at first talking quietly into the mic and then emotionally.

"Lopez said if this day were ever to come for him that he didn’t want the boring long speeches to be spoken over his body. Lopez wanted to go out with a bang," he said while choking back tears and as some members of Lopez's family nodded in agreement.

“Today, Lopez will go out with a bang,” Shaw continued. He went on to loudly sing a few words and finished with shouting, “We’re gonna miss you, Adrian.”

The service ended with a 21-gun salute, a flag-folding ceremony and a final radio call. Several police helicopters flew overheard.

The folded American flag was later given to a member of Lopez’s family. His wife was given Lopez’s police hat and a Pendleton blanket, which she draped over his casket moments before it was loaded into a vehicle.

Lopez, who was not an enrolled member of the White Mountain Apace Tribe, will be buried in Los Angeles, according to Police Department spokesperson Matthias Lupe.

Shooting also left 2nd officer injured, suspect dead

The incident on June 2 began just after 7 p.m. when Lopez stopped a vehicle on East Fork Road, though it's unclear why, officials previously said at a news conference.

An incident then occurred between Lopez and the vehicle's driver, later identified as Kevin Dwight Nashio, 25. Officials said Nashio lived in Whiteriver and was known to the Police Department but they declined to elaborate.

During the fight, Nashio shot and killed Lopez, officials said. It's unclear whose weapon he used.

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He then stole Lopez's marked patrol vehicle and led other White Mountain Apache police officers on an approximately 40-mile chase through "very rugged and rural areas" of tribal land, according to officials. Nashio and the officers were engaged in "a rolling gunbattle" during the chase, officials said.

Nashio at some point crashed the police vehicle into a tree near Hawley Lake and another "gunbattle" began a short time later, officials said. White Mountain Apache police Officer Lonnie Thompson, 29, was then injured.

Thompson, who has been an employee and supervisor at the Police Department "for quite some time," police said, was flown that night to a hospital in the Phoenix area. His condition on Thursday was not confirmed to The Arizona Republic, but he was present at a candlelight vigil for Lopez on Monday outside the Police Department, according to ABC15. 

"Tonight is pretty emotional for me," he told the news organization. "I did love him. Even though he was here with us for only five short months, we definitely had a good bond and connected together."

Nashio was also shot and killed during the gunbattle with police, officials said.

The shooting is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Line of duty deaths in Arizona

Two Arizona officers were feloniously killed in 2021, which was one less than the year prior, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which collects and compiles the data from various law enforcement agencies across the country.

Those officers were likely Chandler police Officer Christopher Farrar and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Juan Miguel Ruiz. 

At least 34 people have been shot at by Arizona police officers as of May 31.

Reach the reporter at chelsea.curtis@arizonarepublic.com or follow her on Twitter @curtis_chels. 

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Funeral held for White Mountain Apache Officer Adrian Lopez Sr.