Man found dead near Harrah didn't intend to kill himself

YAKIMA, Wash. —  Detectives have surmised that a 20-year-old man found dead in a hop field north of Harrah did not mean to inflict a fatal wound when he shot himself.

The body of Salvador Lopez Lopez was discovered Wednesday morning by a farm worker at a hop field off Harrah Road near West Wapato Road. He had been reported missing Sunday to Wapato police.

An autopsy showed he suffered a single gunshot to the chest from a rifle that was found a short distance away. His car was also at the scene.

Lopez sent a text message to an ex-girlfriend indicating he had been shot and was on the way to a hospital, said Stew Graham, chief of detectives for the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office.

“It sounds like he had every intention of suffering this wound and then driving to the hospital,” Graham said.

However, the seriousness of the wound leads detectives to believe that Lopez actually shot himself