Yessica Lopez had to close her husband’s casket Thursday morning during his funeral. He did not look like the high school sweetheart and jokester she had known.
The right side of Juan Lopez’s face revealed the trauma he endured Nov. 26 after he was gunned down at an East Point Wells Fargo ATM. Lying in the casket, he had gashes and deep scrapes on the right side of his face, Yessica said.
“At first it was open casket, then I just closed it because I felt like I was burying somebody else,” she said Friday at her parents’ home in East Point, surrounded by vibrant flowers from the funeral.
About 10 hours before the deadly shooting, Juan and Yessica went to buy their 1-year-old son, Julian, a new bed shaped like a Corvette. When they came home around 3 p.m., Juan headed out to wash his truck at a car wash.
Around 6:10 p.m., Yessica called Juan to check in, saying it was starting to get late and she was worried about his safety. She offered to help him finish washing his truck, but he turned her down. Yessica said Juan hung up after he told her a man was looking at him and he had to pay attention to his surroundings.
Credit: Caroline Silva
Credit: Caroline Silva
A few minutes later, he went to deposit some money at the ATM along East Point Street. He deposited the cash, but never came home.
Juan was on the phone with his sister at the time he was gunned down. She called him to confirm his clothing sizes before she went to buy his birthday presents. He would have turned 30 on Dec. 29.
His sister told Yessica that someone made him get out of his truck as he was about to leave the ATM.
Yessica, recounting Juan’s sister’s words, said, “‘Bro, cough up them keys.’ And (Juan) is like, ‘No, bro. Don’t do this to me. I know you.’”
Juan was shot multiple times around 6:30 p.m., East Point police said. Several men fled the scene in a silver vehicle, according to authorities.
Yessica wonders if the suspects may have been someone Juan knew, but she can’t imagine who would do this to him. Police have not released any information about the suspects.
“I can’t understand. If they knew Juan, they knew he had a family, they knew he was a good person, they knew he wouldn’t hurt a fly,” she said as Julian stood next to her.
Credit: Caroline Silva
Credit: Caroline Silva
At the hospital, Yessica sat for nearly two hours in a waiting room only to hear the words: “Juan is dead.” She was only able to look at him through a glass wall for about 15 minutes until saying goodbye forever.
“My heart dropped to the floor,” Yessica said, unable to finish her sentence as tears poured out. “I was so naive that I thought that if I touched him, he would heal.”
The morning after Juan’s death, Julian woke up angry, Yessica said, detailing how “he was mad that (Juan) didn’t wake up with him.” Soon after, they headed to the ATM, which is less than a mile away from Yessica’s parents’ home, and set up a memorial of flowers and candles.
After being with Juan since she was in the 11th grade while they were both students at Tri-Cities High School, Yessica can’t imagine a life without him.
While flipping through videos and pictures of Juan on her phone, she remembered how he would always pick up her textbooks when she dropped them in the hall. She didn’t know it was him, though. She was always flying to another class and didn’t have enough time to notice him, she said. They began dating while they were in the same math class. He used to ask Yessica for help with his school work, but she now knows he never really needed help, he just wanted to get to know her.
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
The high school sweethearts got married in 2013 at the courthouse and held a religious wedding in 2016. Now with a son to raise with only the help of both families, Yessica is unsure of how she will eventually tell Julian why his “papa” is gone or how she will teach Julian to be like his father.
“He really was a good person, not just because he passed away — he really was,” she said. “He was the type of person that wanted everyone around him to be happy, and if there was something that he could do to make that happen, he would.”
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