Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
KEARNS — When Oscar Lopez thinks of his brother, he remembers a hard working man with a good heart.
"He was a good guy, man. He worked in construction," Lopez said. "He was a good brother, he was a good son, he was a good father. ... He was a good person."
On July 10, 2016, Marvin Lopez, 24, was shot three times near 4220 W. 5615 South and later died at a hospital. No arrests were ever made, however, and the case went cold.
Oscar Lopez admits it was a hard time for his family, but they kept going. Then in 2019, his oldest brother, Jaime Perez, died. Last year, Lopez's uncle, whom he considered a father figure, also died.
"We're Mexican. We're tough. My mom, she raised us to be tough. We never lashed out. We never blamed anybody. We took it on the chin and kept moving," he said.
At the time of Marvin Lopez's killing, Oscar didn't believe Unified police cared much about the investigation because it was just another gang-related shooting.
"I was angry at Unified, I'm not gonna lie about that. I was angry at the state," he said.
Earlier this month, however — after nearly nine years — police announced that they had made an arrest in the case.
Jimmy Alexis Lopez, 27, whose moniker is "Savage," was charged on Feb. 5 with murder, a first-degree felony; and five counts of discharge of a gun, one first-degree felony and four second-degree felonies. Jimmy Lopez, who is not related to Marvin or Oscar Lopez, was 18 at the time of the shooting.
Marvin Lopez was at a party in Kearns when Jimmy Lopez and others drove up, according to prosecutors. Police say a male in the vehicle claimed he was looking for a particular gang member. At that point, Marvin Lopez said he was from the same gang.
"The male in the back seat produced a semiautomatic handgun, and (a) witness and Marvin started running away. The male fired several rounds before the car drove off. The witness saw that Marvin had been shot," according to the arrest report.
In October 2022, "the firearm used to kill Marvin Lopez was forensically linked to a gang-related shooting nine days prior at a residence a few houses south of (Jimmy) Lopez's residence," the affidavit states. In yet another case, Jimmy Lopez was charged with two counts of attempted murder in September 2016 accusing him of shooting at another vehicle on state Route 201 occupied by two people. The charges were later dropped when prosecutors were unable to proceed due to problems with witnesses, according to court records.
Today, Oscar Lopez says he still feels anger about what happened to both of his brothers.
"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I? Who wouldn't be angry? I lost two brothers, man," he said.
Part of that anger is due to his feeling that "I could've done more" to protect them.
And while Lopez is pleased that an arrest has finally been made in his brother's killing, neither he nor his mother, Maria Perez, believe they will ever have closure.
"Just because they arrested him doesn't mean (Marvin is) coming back. Doesn't really change anything," he said. "Nothing is going to give us closure. I don't think closure is a real thing. I don't think it is. … I think moving on is the best thing to do."
Speaking to KSL.com, Oscar Lopez and his mother — who spoke mostly in Spanish with Oscar interpreting — recounted growing up in Los Angeles where there was a gang influence.
"We grew up what we grew up around," he said.
In 1998, Lopez's mother and her six sons moved to Utah. Marvin Lopez was the youngest sibling.
"We came here to try and get a better life," Oscar Lopez said.
Marvin Lopez worked in concrete. His last big project before his death was helping build Top Golf in Midvale. He is survived by a daughter and a son who lives with Perez and looks just like his father, the family says.
Oscar Lopez says his brother had a good heart, but got involved with the wrong people.
It was only recently that Oscar Lopez moved back to Utah after returning to Los Angeles after his brother's death. He said there was something inside of him telling him he needed to go back to Utah.
"I felt like I needed to be here, so I came here. It's just weird how things work. All praise the most high, you know, he makes things happen. I just keep my faith in him and so does my mom," he said.
It wasn't long after he returned that he got the call from Unified police that an arrest had been made in Marvin Lopez's death.
Oscar Lopez says while he's not an outwardly angry person; he believes he will always carry a little anger in him because of his brother's death. But he says he hopes he'll use it to help him make better decisions in his own life.
"Life is gonna beat you down. But at the end of day you gotta keep going and give yourself to faith," he said.
