'It still doesn't feel real'

The sister of a 17-year-old Madison High School student shot and killed Saturday said the accused gunman was a man her brother considered his best friend.

“Why? Why? I just don’t get it,” said Kayla Cabrera. “How are you going to claim you love my brother and take his life? That’s the part I don’t get.”

Willougby police said they received a 911 call around 12:30 Saturday morning saying someone was shot in the alley near 4066 Erie Street.

Officers arrived and found a 17-year-old suffering from gunshot wounds. He died at the scene.

Kayla Cabrera said the victim was her younger brother, Isaac Cabrera.

“He was my rock, he really was,” said Kayla Cabrera. “And now I don’t know how I’m going to do it without him. He was my other half and that other half has been ripped away from me for no reason.”

She said her brother was wise beyond his age, full of love and a role model.

His death shocked his family.

“I’m in denial,” said his sister. “Like I really still feel like he’s going to come home one day and everything’s going to be alright, but I know he’s not going to come home. It’s so hard.”

Cabrera said she doesn’t know what her brother was doing with his accused killer the night of the shooting. But she said the two worked together as roofers and had been friends for about a year.

Willoughby police said Fernando Alejo, 23, from Painesville, was arrested Saturday as he drove across Indiana. Investigators have not released the man’s name nor said what charges he could face.

Police have also not released a motive for the killing.

They’re details that Kayla Cabrera knows won’t bring back her brother.

Instead, her focus now is getting justice for the teen she described as having a big smile and a bigger heart.

“I want him to rest knowing that we got the man,” said Cabrera. “He’s going to serve his time and he’s going to pay for what he did to all of us, because he didn’t just kill my brother. He killed everybody that day. Everybody feels the hurt in their hearts right now.”

Cabrera has started a GoFundMe account to help pay for her brother’s burial.

She said she’s grateful for the help she’s received from donors and believes it shows how well-loved her brother was.

Grand Slam Restaurant in Painesville is also planning a benefit dinner for the Cabrera family from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 18, with all proceeds going to the Cabrera family.