‘He Scored a Goal the Night Before He Died’

Family, friends, and the football community are mourning the death of 22-year-old Jaheed K. “Jude” Lopez. He was tragically killed in a highway accident near Armenia Village on Wednesday. 

Lopez was among a group who had stopped along the Hummingbird Highway to help clear a fallen tree, when a truck carrying sand and gravel struck the scene and overturned. 

For those who knew Lopez, the loss has been made even more difficult by how recently he had begun pursuing his next chapter. Just six days before his death, on September 4, Lopez officially enrolled at the University of Belize. 

A family relative who knew Lopez since he was a child recalled meeting him in 2018, stating, “I watched him grow up and fulfill his dream of being a soccer star, which he did at the University of Belize. He fulfilled my dream for him by becoming a Christian and a good man.” 

He was also pursuing his passion for football, playing with AC Westrac. The team said Lopez had scored during a friendly match the night before his death. “He was a young, active, optimistic member of the team,” AC Westrac added. “He laughed and chatted with his teammates and today he is gone.”

In an online statement, a friend of Lopez said, “We stopped on the road to clean up a fallen tree on the highway with many others. And out of nowhere the semi just hit everything and took you from us… It happened so fast. As I got out of the pickup I saw you were already taken by the Lord.”

Lopez was removed from the wreckage but later succumbed to his injuries.