21-year-old man drowns after his own baptism, attempting to rescue teen in North Texas lake

WAXAHACHIE, Texas — A 21-year-old man drowned Saturday afternoon while attempting to rescue a teen in distress at Lake Waxahachie.

According to the Waxahachie Police Department, police and fire rescue crews responded to Boat Dock Park at the lake around 12:45 p.m. to the report of a drowning. 

Upon arrival, police said officers discovered that a 21-year-old man had drowned while attempting to rescue a teenage girl in distress. The victim was later identified as Lincer Lopez, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner. 

Lincer's family and friends told WFAA he was at the lake for his baptism. Shortly after several members of the church were baptized, they were enjoying the water. A teenage girl with the church group started drowning, and Lincer rushed to save her. She was removed from the water by a boater and CPR was performed, successfully reviving her, but Lincer was pronounced dead at the hospital. 

"The Waxahachie Police Department, along with the entire community, would like to extend our deepest condolences to the victim's family," the department posted to Facebook. 

Lincer's uncle, Jacobo Lopez, said he was so looking forward to his baptism he couldn't sleep the night before.

"He was a hero," Jacob told WFAA in Spanish. "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." 

Jacob Bell told WFAA he was the boater that came upon the girl, pulled her out of the water and performed CPR on her.

"I haven’t really begun to, it hasn’t sunk in yet," he said. "It’s hard."

Jacob’s brother drowned to death when he was only three years old, so his heart hurts for Lincer’s family in more ways than one. 

"He was a hero, he had just been baptized and gave his life to the lord, and our family, we pray for his family, and we pray for the little girl's family. And he was a strong boy, they should be very proud of him." 

His family most certainly is. Lincer, his uncle said, worked hard in construction to send money back to his siblings in Mexico.

A GoFundMe was created to raise funds to help Lincer's family send his body back to Mexico, where his parents are. You can find that link here.

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