Loved ones are devastated after a Southern California man was shot and killed while visiting Mexico. Isaac Lopez, 23, traveled to Ensenada for the weekend to visit his grandmother and attend his sister’s vow renewal celebration. Lopez, an aspiring singer-songwriter living in Riverside, was excited to reunite with family members during the short trip. He brought his boyfriend, Jake, and his cousin, Darlene, on the trip as well. Early morning on Oct. 7, they began the drive back home to SoCal. Lopez hoped to get some rest before going back to work later that day. As they reached the town of Rosarito, however, the unthinkable happened.  Lopez’s sister, Karen Lajud, remembers the morning she received the devastating phone call from Jake. “They were like 30 minutes into driving and Jake said that he heard a pop and he looked over at Isaac,” Lajud told KTLA’s Shelby Nelson. “Isaac was driving and he saw Isaac’s head immediately just went down and he grabbed the steering wheel.” Isaac Lopez is seen in a photo provided by family.Isaac Lopez is seen in a photo provided by family.Isaac Lopez and his sister, Karen Lajud, are seen in a photo provided by family.Vehicles drive along a highway next to the border wall that separates the U.S. and Mexico in Tijuana, Mexico, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017. (David Maung/Bloomberg via Getty Images)Isaac Lopez is seen in a photo provided by family.ily.Isaac Lopez is seen in a photo provided by family.Isaac Lopez and a loved one are seen in a photo provided by family.Vehicles drive along a highway next to the border wall that separates the U.S. and Mexico in Tijuana, Mexico, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017. (David Maung/Bloomberg via Getty Images)Vehicles stand in early morning traffic at the San Ysidro Port of Entry for the U.S. and Mexico border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017. (David Maung/Bloomberg via Getty Images) The car drove into a ditch and moments later, a man suddenly approached their vehicle. “They were like, ‘Is everybody okay?’ in Spanish and Jake was trying to get help,” Lajud said. He was like, ‘Please help us,’ and when he said that, the guy took out a gun and shot Jake in the shoulder. He immediately went to the back and started saying, “Dinero, dinero, teléfonos!’ and he looked at Darlene and he shot her.” The thieves reportedly only took Lopez’s cell phone — his wallet was untouched — which leaves his family with even more questions.  Lajud said it took Mexican authorities over an hour to respond to the scene. Within that critical timeframe, Lopez died from his injuries. His boyfriend and cousin survived the shooting. His family believes his vehicle was targeted because it had a foreign U.S. license plate. Still grieving over his death, his loved ones are now working to bring his body back home to California for a proper funeral. “He was the sweetest person you could have ever met,” Lajud said. “He was always there for me when I needed him. We want to bring my brother home.” Lajud said her family has been overwhelmed with the difficult process of bringing her brother back. She said they’ve been buried in paperwork and high costs while Mexican authorities have not been helpful during the process.  A GoFundMe page to help Lopez's family with funeral costs can be found here. The U.S. government has issued a travel advisory to various parts of Mexico. For Baja California, foreign visitors are advised to reconsider traveling to the area due to threats of crime and kidnapping.