Family Mourns Young Brothers Killed By Exposed Power Line

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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - A makeshift memorial of shiny, Mylar balloons, flowers and colorful pinwheels appeared next to the wooded area where two brothers died as one tried to save the other from electrocution on a downed power line.

Isaiah Lopez, 11 and his brother Alex, 12, were killed Wednesday evening.

"I think we're all still kind of in shock," said their uncle Jorge Lopez. "It doesn't seem real."

Jorge Lopez had to see for himself where his two nephews died in the wooded area at the fringe of the Oakland Park where Alex and his friend were playing. Alex somehow came in contact with the downed power line and his friend ran for help.

"He ran back to get the younger brother Isaiah who was right around here skateboarding and he said we need to go get some help," their uncle explained. "We need to go get your mom. And Isaiah said 'you go get help, I'm going to go get my brother' and he ran and he tried to get Alex off of the wire."

Both boys died. Their grandmother who took care of them, two younger sisters and father are devastated.

"Right now we're trying to hold each other up and support each other," Jorge Lopez said. "We are looking for God's hand in this. Because we know as a family our faith is strong."

Oncor stated the only way it knows where a line is down is by someone visually identifying the line in an area without power. The power provider stated it's investigating the timeline of what happened in this particular case.

A spokesperson for Oncor e-mailed, "At this time, we believe the severe storm brought down the wire in question, however both the timing and the cause for the downed line in Oakland Lake Park are currently under investigation. Following the storm multiple crews were working numerous locations across North Texas in an effort to safely repair damage and restore service for customers."

The boys' uncle says the heavy brush may have hidden the deadly line from view.

"On either side of the trail, there some high grass. It probably wasn't exactly very clear what the line was," Jorge Lopez said. "It could've been that he was completely accidental or he was trying to step over it and miscalculated. I really think that it could've absolutely happened to anyone walking through there."