Posted: 25 Jan 2009 Update
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2009/jan/16/family_and_friends_remember_richard_lopez/
Family and friends remember Richard Lopez
An honor guard bears the body of Sgt. 1st Class Richard Lopez to the waiting hearse after his funeral Thursday at St. Rose Cathollic Church in Paso Robles, Calif. He died Jan. 5 after a fight outside a bar in downtown Steamboat Springs. The U.S. Army Special Forces veteran had earned a Purple Heart, among other awards, after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted: 7 Jan 2009
Lopez died from head injury
Steamboat Springs — Sgt. 1st Class Richard Lopez died Monday from “severe cranial and cerebral trauma,” according to autopsy results. Steamboat Springs police said the suspects in his alleged assault may not face murder charges...
The two suspects argued with Lopez and his friends Timothy and Wesley Mottlau at The Tap House on Lincoln Avenue about their song selections on the jukebox, and the altercation became physical nearby after all five men left the bar, police said...
Lopez, a recipient of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg. His previous tours included Fort Campbell, Ky.; South Korea; Gainesville, Fla.; Iraq; and Afghanistan, according to a news release from the United States Army Special Operations Command News Service...