Were bullets meant for district attorney, not his brother?

Byline: Jessie Milligan TRIBUNE REPORTER

Desperate causes

A brother's killing haunts a prosecutor

Second of five parts

TODAY: Mistaken identity?

THE STORY SO FAR

Killers leave messages -- their choice of weapons, clues to their motives. What State Police say Pete Lopez's killer left were the signs of a crime of passion. He was shot about 15 times on March 29, 1997, and there were no signs of a struggle. Police began sorting through the evidence and their own theories of why Lopez was killed.

SOCORRO -- The first investigators at the scene were shocked: They thought the bullet-riddled body lying on the ground was that of Ron Lopez, chief prosecutor in the 7th Judicial District.

Ron and his brother, Pete, were well-known in the judicial district's headquarters of Socorro, their hometown of 8,200 people, where everyone knows …