The 202nd murder of the year in Dallas has left a dance group made up of teens and children without its manager.
Someone shot and killed him in his car early Christmas morning and the shooter is still on the loose.
Candles line the entrance of a dance studio in northwest Dallas in memory of Hector Cabrera.
It is a loss that has left an 11-year-old wishing for one more thing this holiday season: justice.
“I feel really sad,” said Emmanuel Sierra. “I feel like trying to find the person who killed him but like, I know I couldn’t do that. I had to let the police do that.”
The Primitive Cadets know things won’t be the same anymore.
“It’s going to be hard not to hear his voice anymore in the studio,” said 18-year-old Ahmed Jimenez.
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The boys are part of a group that performs choreographed dances for the most part at quinceaneras or “sweet 15’ parties.
The cadets were led by their manager Cabrera, known as Nelly.
“Nelly wasn’t just our manager, he was our friend,” said Jimenez.
The 32-year-old was gunned down at around 6 a.m. on Christmas morning.
Dallas police found a man inside of an SUV in the parking lot of Good Haven Apartments in Oak Cliff.
He was rushed to the hospital but later died, according to DPD.
Jorge Hidalgo says the last day spent with his friend, they were laughing and smiling. That was Christmas Eve.
“We just went inside. We were having a good time. Just having some dinner,” said Hidalgo.
At some point that evening, the two shared a special moment.
“He just hugged me, and he just told me how much he loved me,” said Hidalgo.
Within hours, on Christmas day, his friend was gone.
“It’s very hard to wake up with all your family, and we were just opening presents and having a good Christmas, and I just started getting a lot of calls,” said Hidalgo.
“We came together last night, we lit candles up, just came here to say one last goodbye for Nelly,” said Jimenez.
His group is now left mourning the man taken from them.
“He took a role model from us and he just took someone that everyone loves,” said Jimenez.
For now the kids can only try to remember the lessons Cabrera taught them beyond the dance floor.
“Every day he told me: You can do this. Believe in yourself. Don’t Let Anybody get you down,” remembers Sierra.
Funeral arrangements are still being made.
This latest murder comes as the city of Dallas surges past 200 victims killed this year, the highest number in more than a decade.
Mayor Eric Johnson called on the city manager and police chief to come up with a crime-fighting plan before the end of the year, but if there is one, it has not been made public.
