Police: Man confesses to shooting stepson on SW 17th St in Cape Coral

Cape Coral police say a man confessed to shooting his stepson in their home on Southwest 17th Street after a heated argument late Wednesday night.

According to the Cape Coral Police Department, Gabriel Fernandez, 53, was arrested after officers responded to a call about a shooting in progress on Southwest 17th Street shortly before 11 a.m. The caller said a neighbor had approached them and asked to call 911, claiming the stepfather living at the house had shot his stepson.

When CCPD officers arrived, Fernandez was standing in the driveway, speaking to CCPD dispatch on the phone and explaining that he had just shot his stepson, later identified as Brian Nicholas McKellop Jr., 20. Fernandez was immediately detained.

McKellop was found in a hallway, where responding officers attempted life-saving measures before transporting him to Cape Coral Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. McKellop had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and back.

Witnesses on the scene reported that after a family argument, Fernandez, who was drunk, became enraged when McKellop attempted to diffuse the situation by inserting himself into the discussion. Fernandez then grabbed his handgun and shot McKellop in the chest and then the back as McKellop attempted to flee from the bedroom.

Fernandez was subsequently transported to Lee County Jail. He faces a homicide charge.

Neighbor Curtis Allen, who has lived on Southwest 17th Street for more than 20 years, says he heard a knock at his door around 11 p.m. Wednesday night. When he opened the door, the woman who lives in the home under investigation was outside. She was screaming for help.

“She just wanted to get my attention, you know, let me know that her son had been shot: ‘Please, get 911,'” Allen said.

Sebastian Leota heard screaming and yelling, then saw Cape Coral police officers everywhere.

“She was yelling for help, you know. Like she was desperate to find somebody. It was really late at night. A lot of people were asleep. She was desperate, just yelling and yelling. And then I heard her yell ‘why?'” said Leota.

Cape Coral police say efforts were made to save McKellop. “Life-saving measures were performed. And he was taken to Cape Coral Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased,” said Sergeant Julie green, with the Cape Coral police public affairs office.

Sergeant Green said Fernandez himself called 911 and confessed to the crime.

“It was immediate pretty much. He was actually telling CCPD dispatch that he shot his stepson Brian,” said Green.

Not long after his arrest, Fernandez went before a judge. That judge ordered him held without bond and told him not to speak with anyone in McKellop’s family.

As a family mourns, neighbors are left in disbelief.

“He was just starting life. Something like that shouldn’t have happened,” said neighbor Curtis Allen.

“You really don’t know how to feel. The first time I ever experienced something like that. And I was really confused, really confused when I got there,” said Leota.

Cape Coral police say they had been called to the home where the shooting took place for family disputes in the past. They say were involving Fernandez.

Police say McKellop and two other people were in the home during the shooting.