At approximately 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 2, a White Mountain Apache Police officer was making a traffic stop on East Fork Road on the Apache Reservation when an altercation occurred between the officer and the driver of the vehicle. The officer, identified as 35-year-old Adrian Lopez Sr., was shot and killed. The suspect then took the officer’s patrol vehicle and fled the scene with officers in pursuit. The pursuit continued for approximately 40 miles through remote areas of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation to the Hawley Lake area.
At that time officers engaged the suspect in a gun battle and Sgt. Lonnie Thompson, 29, with the White Mountain Apache Police Department was struck by gunfire. Thompson was flown to a Phoenix hospital for treatment of his injuries. According to the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, Thompson’s injuries are not life threatening.
During that gun battle the suspect, 25-year-old Keven Dwight Nashio of Whiteriver was shot and killed.
Lopez has served with the White Mountain Apache Police Department since January of this year. Prior to that, he served as a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer beginning March of 2021. is survived by his wife and a one-year-old child.
Officers from multiple agencies assisted during the incident, including White Mountain Apache Game Rangers, San Carlos Apache Game Rangers, Pinetop-Lakeside Police Department, Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, Apache County Sheriff’s Office, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
