Former neighbors of Ivan Lopez, the soldier accused of Wednesday’s mass shooting at Ft. Hood, said he and his family seemed normal but were quiet and kept to themselves.
Until just weeks ago Lopez and a woman and young girl lived in an apartment complex off Gateway Blvd. in El Paso, Tex. , while Lopez was stationed at the Army’s Ft. Bliss.
Noah Georges, a nursing student who lived across the hall from Lopez, said he would say hello to Lopez as they passed each other in the corridor between apartment blocks. The girl and the woman, whom he took to be Lopez’s wife and daughter, rarely left the apartment, he said.
“They looked like they were a pretty happy family,” said Georges. “We were neighbors so when I saw him across the way I said, ‘Oh hi, neighbor.’ That was it.”
“He seemed to be a nice guy,” said Georges. “I never saw any indication that he had any problems or him and his wife were having any issues. They looked pretty normal to me.”
Georges said that the family never seemed to have visits from friends or any other kind of company. He took the woman to be a homemaker and said the girl appeared to be two or three years old.
When they moved several weeks ago and relocated to Killeen, Tex., where Lopez was stationed at Ft. Hood, they did so without attracting any attention.
Georges said, “I didn’t see when they moved in and I didn’t see when they left. I came back one day and they were gone.”
Georges’ mother-in-law, Virginia Grenke, who also described Lopez as someone who kept to himself, moved into Lopez’s apartment after he left. She is still receiving mail for Lopez. She said there was nothing strange about the apartment when she moved in.
Georges said his heart goes out to victims of the shooting. “My deepest condolences to the victims and the families and especially his family,” said Georges. “We all have demons we have to deal with. His demons were just too great, I guess.”
