Utah man, 23, is charged with murder after he ‘shot and killed his mother at the dinner table and danced with his sister, 14, next to their mother’s body’

Mike Lopez allegedly shot his mother dead at home in Springville, Utah on Dec. 23

Lopez, 23, is charged with murder, a first-degree felony, plus domestic violence in the presence of a child and possession of a weapon by a restricted person, both third-degree felonies

Court docs state that the suspect entered kitchen of their home in Springville, Utah, where his mother Victoria Ramirez, 43, was with his sisters, 14 and 17

As he sat down and pointed a gun at his mom, the 14-year-old sister allegedly nodded to her brother before both girls exited the room

‘I know you’re going to kill me, and I love you,’ Ramirez allegedly, told Lopez before he fired a shotgun shell into her neck and face, killing her almost instantly

His younger sister returned to stroke mother’s hair and Lopez took her by arm and the pair started dancing next to their mother’s bleeding corpse, affidavit states

Admitting to the the crime while in custody, Lopez who had marijuana in his system,told cops that ‘someone told me’ to shoot his mother

17-year-old sister was able to escape through window and call for help

She had gone with Lopez to buy a handgun and a shotgun the day before he shot their mother, the younger girl topld cops

She admitted she’d been smoking marijuana with her brother

She was with him also when he went to buy a handgun and a shotgun the day before he shot their mother

A 23-year-old man has been charged with murder after he shot his mother at the dinner table just before Christmas and then danced with his 14-year-old sister next to her bleeding corpse, court documents state.
According to the charging affidavit two days before Christmas the suspect, Mike Lopez walked into the kitchen where his two sisters, aged 14 and 17, were sitting with their mother Victoria Ramirez, 43, at their home in Springville, Utah.
He sat down with them and pointed a shotgun at his mother before turning to his 14-year-old sister who nodded at him, a police affidavit says.
The girl then got up and locked herself in an adjacent bathroom while the older girl also the kitchen, left but remained outside the door.
‘I know you’re going to kill me, and I love you,’ Ramirez is said to have told her son before he ‘fired a single shot, striking her in the neck and face, killing her almost instantly.’ 
The 14-year-old then returned to the room where she started stroking her mother’s hair before Lopez took her by the arm and started dancing with her, according to the affidavit. 
The 17-year-old locked herself in the bathroom where she escaped through the window and phoned a relative who then alerted the police.
When officers arrived Lopez was sitting in a filled bathtub with the shotgun resting against the bathtub in the basement of the home, uninjured but seemingly unresponsive.
His 14-year-old sister sustained injures when police apprehended her and was taken to a hospital, Springville police said in a statement Thursday.

While being booked into Utah County jail an officer informed Lopez that he was being charged with his mother’s murder to which ‘he nodded his head affirmatively and began to cry.
Subsequently, in an interview with police, Lopez allegedly said “someone told him to do it and it was like ‘deja vu,’” according to the affidavit.
Lopez had marijuana in his system and the 17-year-old sister told officers she believed that her brother had been smoking the drugs with the 14-year-old sister.
‘She stated Mike has been acting really strange lately where he has been meditating a lot where he claims to go to different dimensions and talking about a lot of bad people,’ the affidavit states.
The sister said that Lopez bought a handgun and a shotgun the day before he shot their mother.
Officers noted that the 14-year-old girl ‘was acting very strange’ during her interview.
She allegedly admitted to police that she was with her brother when he bought the guns, but denied knowing he would shoot her mother, adding that she was in the bathroom when a gunshot rang out.
Asked her about dancing with her brother, “she smiled, stated she remembered dancing, then she tried to recite the song for me,” a police officer reports.
The teen said she and her brother ‘have been together a lot lately and they take turns sleeping so they can watch over one another.’
The girl claimed it was not her mother who had been shot and smiled when she was asked about dancing with Lopez in the aftermath.
Meanwhile Lopez “still acted like he was unresponsive,” asked why he was going to jail and in large part would not speak with officers. A doctor told police “he believed [Lopez] was faking his condition,” the police affidavit says.
He is charged with murder, a first-degree felony, plus domestic violence in the presence of a child and possession of a weapon by a restricted person, both third-degree felonies.
On Monday, the case was transferred to the 4th District Court in American Fork and is schedduled to next appear in court on January 12.