Jose Luis "Joe" Lopez, a 24-year-old Hispanic male, passed away on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, at a hospital in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Born on November 24, 1989, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he later moved to Park River, North Dakota, where he grew up and graduated from high school in 2009. He went on to attend Northland Technical College in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, and was employed as an assembler at Motor Coach Industries in Pembina, North Dakota.
He was engaged to be married and was the father of one daughter with another child expected.
Tragically, his life was cut short in what authorities have described as a case of mistaken identity. On that Tuesday morning, he was shot three times in his Grand Forks apartment. The investigation into his death quickly identified two suspects. One of the men, Delvin Shaw, was arrested and subsequently stood trial. In June 2015, a jury convicted him of murder and burglary, leading to a sentence of life in prison.
However, the legal proceedings did not end there. The state Supreme Court later overturned the murder verdict against Shaw. The court ruled that certain testimony presented during his trial should not have been permitted. This decision granted Shaw the right to a new trial. In the interim, he was ordered to be held without bond. Another man, Dametrian Welch, was also charged in connection with the murder. A second suspect, a 29-year-old man, was apprehended in St. Paul, Minnesota, following the incident.
