Four years ago Thursday, Michelle Lopez said goodbye to her husband, expecting to see him a few hours later like every other day.
“That was a really nice day,” Lopez said. “He came home for lunch and we had really good discussions. … It’s for God’s grace that we just had a really nice day and I got to see him and spend time with him.”
On April 25, 2009, Deputies Burt Lopez and Warren “Skip” York responded to Shoal River Gun Club in Crestview to arrest a domestic violence suspect. They were shot and killed in the ensuing gunfight.
The suspect, 28-year-old Joshua Cartwright, was killed later that day in another gunfight with law officers in DeFuniak Springs.
Thursday, Michelle Lopez and Janel York, Skip York’s wife, will have lunch together and talk like old friends, although they didn’t meet until after their husbands were killed.
“Even though tragedy brought us together, it’s nice we have someone we added to our family,” Lopez said of York. “There’s a kind of bond there that can’t be explained.
“It’s still hard,” she added. “You stay involved, stay active, but there’s always something missing. It’s not easier, you just learn to live with it differently.”
See photos from the joint service held for the deputies. >>
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement released its findings in October 2009 after an almost six-month investigation of York’s and Lopez’s deaths.
A lot of the details likely never will be known.
“We’ve got no in-car video, no consistent witness statements and no one to tell us if any violations of the department policy were committed,” then-interim Sheriff Ed Spooner said when the report was released.
“What we do know is that a very violent individual killed two very good men, and those men fought a valiant fight and died a hero’s death.”
Following the deputies’ deaths, discussions on training and procedures were conducted across the Sheriff’s Office.
“There are always lessons learned from something like that,” said Fred Lithgow, a former deputy and friend of York and Lopez. “There was added training about handcuffing and the way we deploy our Taser, but I don’t know whether that would have changed anything. In retrospect, no one can tell.”
Lopez said after lunch today she will stop by Heritage Gardens Cemetery in Niceville with new flowers for her husband’s grave.
The two men have not been forgotten by the community, either.
The local Blue Knights Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club will sponsor a memorial poker run in honor of York on May 18 at Heritage Cycles Harley-Davidson on Beal Parkway in Fort Walton Beach. Proceeds will go to the Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center.
Sheriff Larry Ashley added that the deputies also will be remembered during law enforcement appreciation month in May.
Lopez and York served as security officers in the Air Force before they joined the Sheriff’s Office. Lopez joined the agency Oct. 5, 2003, and York joined Feb. 11, 2007.
“We miss them,” Ashley said. “We know this is a dangerous business, but it’s never expected when a law enforcement officer and a friend is killed. We hurt emotionally just like everybody else does.
“We proudly do this job and make sacrifices, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Angel McCurdy at 850-315-4432 or amccurdy@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AngelMnwfdn.