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Soldier Killed After Jimmy Buffet Song Fight

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Jan 6, 2009 7:10 pm US/Mountain

Soldier Killed After Jimmy Buffet Song Fight

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Jimmy Buffet (File)
AP

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A soldier who died after a bar fight in this Colorado resort town was a Special Forces member who was wounded in Afghanistan and also served in Iraq, family members say.

Sgt. 1st Class Richard Lopez of Fort Bragg, N.C., was found unconscious outside a bar early Friday and died on Monday after he was airlifted to a Denver hospital, police said.

Authorities said Lopez, 37, and two friends got in an argument with two other bar patrons after Lopez and his friends played a Jimmy Buffett song on the jukebox. Family members told The Denver Post the song was "Margaritaville."

Police Capt. Joel Rae said Tuesday the death is being investigated as a homicide. He said no arrests have been made but that two men have been identified as suspects and are in contact with police through their attorney.

The suspects' names haven't been released.

Gloria Bovadilla, Lopez's aunt, told The Post that Lopez was shot and seriously wounded while serving in Afghanistan. She said he also served in Iraq.

Fort Bragg officials did not immediately confirm that but said they planned to release Lopez's service record later.

Police identified Lopez's friends and companions that night brothers Wes Mottlau, a soldier, and Timothy Mottlau, a sailor.

Shannon Boahn, Lopez's ex-wife, said the Mottlaus told her they and the other bar patrons were "razzing" each other over their jukebox selections -- Buffett for Lopez and the Mottlau brothers, Kanye West for the other patrons.

The other men continued to razz Lopez and the Mottlaus after they left the bar, she told the Rocky Mountain News. The Mattlaus told him to ignore it, "But I guess Richard was responding back to the insults," she said.

Boahn said Lopez apparently slipped on ice and may have been knocked unconscious by the fall. It wasn't clear if a fight was in progress at the time.

Rae declined to comment on Boahn's account.

Boahn said she and Lopez were married for eight years and were on good terms. She said Lopez and the Mottlau brothers had spent a week in Steamboat Springs while on leave, and that the jukebox argument broke out on their last night there.