MERCED -- Pfc. Lukas Hopper, a 20-year-old Army paratrooper from Merced, died in a Humvee crash in Baghdad, Iraq last week, the military said Monday.
A Golden Valley High School graduate, Hopper had been in Iraq for nearly a year.
He was less than two weeks from the end of his deployment when his vehicle flipped Friday in a noncombat-related crash in Baghdad's Karrada district.
His body arrived Monday night at Dover Air Force Base, Del. His casket will be flown to Merced by the weekend.
Hopper was in the Humvee's gunner seat at the time of the crash.
The cause of the rollover is under investigation, the military said.
In interviews Monday, Hopper's friends and relatives recalled him as an impetuous thrill-seeker and a protective big brother from an especially close-knit family. They said he joined the Army at age 18 in hopes of seeing the world and that he recently volunteered for a tour in Afghanistan.
He loved hiking, going to the beach and pulling pranks.
"He's always been an adventurer -- always the one who wanted to be right in the middle of the action," said his mother, Robin Hopper. "He knew he wanted to be infantry, and he knew he wanted to jump out of airplanes."
A Merced native and the oldest of three siblings, Hopper graduated in 2007 from Golden Valley, where he swam and played water polo. He spent a semester at Merced College before joining the military two years ago.
Relatives said they've tentatively planned funeral services Saturday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Yosemite Avenue. They said Hopper will be buried in Cathey's Valley.
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