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A man drowned in a Texas lake while trying to save a teenage girl moments after being baptized.
Lincer Lopez, 21, was at Lake Waxahachie – just outside of Dallas – with a large group of churchgoers from Garland, Texas on August 24 to be baptized.
Minutes after Lopez was baptized, he spotted his friend, 15-year-old Genesis Delgado, struggling to swim farther out in the lake, local outlet WFAA reports. Lopez swam out to rescue her, but his strength eventually failed and he disappeared underneath the water.
“I was like this is it, I’m just gonna die here, and nobody’s gonna be able to find my body,” Genesis told WFAA. “All these flashbacks were coming, and memories, and then I just blacked out.”
Jacob Bell was boating on the lake when he saw Lopez trying to save Delgado and jumped in the water to help.
“[I got her] into my boat and gave her CPR, got her breathing again, and got her to the shore,” Bell told NBC DFW.
Bell then rushed to rescue Lopez – but it was too late.
“[I] ran across the dock area into the lake and swam around and dove down and finally found the boy and pulled him up to safety,” Bell said. “And he had already passed.”
“Lincer was being just a hero and going and helping people,” he continued.
Community members have launched a GoFundMe to send Lopez’s body back to his hometown of Chiapas, Mexico, where his parents, seven siblings and other family members are mourning.
“I thank you Lincer for everything you tried to do, and I hope I can see you again soon, I believe I will,” Genesis told WFAA.
Lopez’s uncle, Jacobo Lopez, said the 21-year-old was so excited for his baptism that he had trouble sleeping the night before. The young adult worked in construction and sent money home to his family in Mexico, Jacobo Lopez told WFAA.
“He was a hero,” Bell told WFAA. “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.”
Local law enforcement also shared a statement mourning the 21-year-old: “The Waxahachie Police Department, along with the entire community, would like to extend our deepest condolences to the victim’s family.”
