By Pamela Bond
Waco Tribune-Herald
July 21, 2007
When 23-year-old Ishmael Lopez was arrested early Friday morning, it wasn’t the first time he felt the cold metal grip of handcuffs around his wrists.
The man accused by Waco police of setting his mother, aunt and a third woman on fire this week had been convicted previously on a variety of charges, including drug possession, theft and driving while intoxicated, and he had his probation revoked.
Even so, Rhett Domangue, Lopez’s boss and owner of RMD Contracting, described him as a “good guy.”
“He was always cordial on the job and he was very easy to get along with,” Domangue said. “He didn’t cause any trouble. I’ve never had any complaints out of him.”
Police say Lopez poured gasoline on his mother, Adela Lopez, 52; his aunt, Diann Gonzales, 44; and a third woman, Lydia Herrera, 43; then lit them on fire around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday after an argument at Adela Lopez’s home in the 3600 block of Grim Avenue in North Waco.
On Friday evening, Waco police charged Lopez with two counts of attempted murder, intending death, in connection with the assaults on the women, a McLennan County Jail spokeswoman said.
Adela Lopez is in serious condition and Gonzales is in critical condition at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where the three women were transferred from Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center.
No information is available on Herrera’s condition.
“It’s really out of character for him, in my opinion,” Domangue said. “It surprised me that what happened happened, it really did. He was always very kind. He just didn’t seem like that kind of person.”
Negotiated surrender
Authorities had been negotiating with Ishmael Lopez by cell phone from Wednesday morning until he turned himself in at the city fire marshal’s office shortly after midnight Thursday, Fire Marshal Jerry Hawk said.
Ishmael Lopez then was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in an ambulance and treated for burns, Hawk said. Afterward, Lopez was moved to the jail and charged with arson, a first-degree felony, and aggravated assault, a charge unrelated to the fire.
Efforts by the Tribune-Heraldto contact Lopez’s family were unsuccessful Friday. A woman answering a phone at the home of Ishmael Lopez’s brother said he was out of town.
When he was 14, Ishmael Lopez went into the custody of the Texas Youth Commission for an unknown offense. His next brush with the law came Dec. 13, 2002, when he was arrested for possession of two ounces or less of marijuana in Beverly Hills, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty to the Class B misdemeanor and received a parole sentence and fine. His probation was revoked, however, after he failed to show up for orientation processing or pay the court and probation fees, according to court documents. He was then sentenced to 10 days in jail.
On Aug. 10, 2006, Ishmael Lopez pleaded guilty to theft of a television worth between $50 and $500 dollars, driving while intoxicated and possession of marijuana. For all three charges, he was sentenced to 45 days in jail. He was allowed to complete his time on work release, so he worked during the day as a laborer at RMD Contracting and spent his nights in jail.
Lopez was arrested again on a charge of possession of marijuana on Jan. 12, 2007, in Woodway, and pleaded guilty in March, according to court documents. He was sentenced to 100 days in jail and was granted work release with the same employer. Also in March, police arrested Lopez for theft of $50 to $500. A court date on that charge has not been set.
Lopez was being held at McLennan County Jail in lieu of a $150,000 bond for the assault and arson charges Friday night, a jail spokeswoman said. He is awaiting arraignment on the charges of attempted murder, she said.
Pamela K. Bond 