Gaithersburg Father Was Known for Love of Cars

Law Firm Assistant Among Those Killed at Race

Maycol Lopez had gathered with a group of friends in Rockville to talk about cars when he heard about the street races on Indian Head Highway in Prince George's County.

Lopez, an assistant at a law office, had spent time before the race hanging out with friends. Late in the afternoon before the race, he went home to spend time with his family. He had promised his grandfather that he wouldn't stay out late that night. He joked with his mother more than usual.

"They were really close that day, she told me," said Lopez's aunt, Janett Benitez of Potomac. "Usually, she was talking to him about doing the right thing, so he didn't tease her. But on that day, they were really close."

Lopez, 20, also stopped by the home of his 14-month-old daughter, Jazmaidee.

"We were just chilling, basically," said the child's mother, Kimberly Aguilar. "He asked me where she was. She was with my mother. He was teasing me that he was mad at me because she wasn't there."

Lopez, of Gaithersburg, was among the seven people who were killed just after 3 a.m. Feb. 16 when a white Crown Victoria sedan plowed into a crowd of spectators watching an illegal street race near Pine Drive in Accokeek. The driver, Darren Jamar Bullock, 20, of Waldorf told investigators that he did not see the people in the street until it was too late. An eighth man died later, and five people are recovering from injuries they suffered in the crash, authorities said.

Lopez, who came to the United States from Nicaragua when he was 6, had never been to the Indian Head Highway races before, friends and relatives said. But he was drawn to the street racing scene because of his love of cars. He dreamed of becoming a mechanic. He had spent many hours working on his 2006 Acura RSX, said his best friend, Wilson Fernandes, installing headers and fancy intake, exhaust and suspension systems.

Lopez was driving the Acura the night of Feb. 15 when he, Fernandes, his friend Sonia Portillo, 21, and others met at a parking lot on Rockville Pike to talk about and admire cars. Somebody said they thought cars would be racing on Indian Head Highway.

"We all decided we wanted to go," said Fernandes, 19, of Germantown. "We just got in our cars and headed over."

Lopez's family suspected that he had gone to some illegal street races. His mother, Concepcion Sequiera, and his grandfather, Jose Sequiera, in particular, were worried that he had participated.

"His mother was always telling him to be careful, that being around racing could be dangerous," Benitez said.

Lopez shrugged off the warnings. Nothing would happen to him, he said. He didn't even race; he just liked to watch.