A Texas man went next door with a rifle and fatally shot five of his neighbors, including an eight-year-old boy, after they asked him to stop firing rounds in his yard because they were trying to sleep, authorities said on Saturday.
The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, remained at large more than 18 hours after the shooting, and authorities said that he might still be armed.
The attack happened just before midnight on Friday near the town of Cleveland, north of Houston, on a street where some residents say it is not uncommon to hear neighbors unwind by firing off guns.
Photo: AP
Oropeza used an AR-style rifle, and as the search for him dragged into Saturday evening, authorities had widened their efforts to as far as 16km to 32km from the murder scene, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said.
He said Oropeza might still have a weapon, but he believes authorities have the rifle used in the shooting.
Clothes and a phone were found while authorities were combing a rural area that includes dense layers of forest, but the tracking dogs had lost the scent, Capers said.
“He could be anywhere now,” he added.
Capers said the victims were between the ages of eight and 31, and all were believed to be from Honduras.
They were all shot “from the neck up,” he said.
Capers said there were 10 people in the house — some of whom had just moved there earlier in the week — but that no one else was injured.
He said two of the victims were found in a bedroom laying over two children in an apparent attempt to shield them.
A total of three children found covered in blood in the home were taken to a hospital, but found to be uninjured, he said.
FBI spokesperson Christina Garza said that investigators do not believe everyone at the home are members of a single family.
The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25, Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21, Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18, and Daniel Enrique Laso, eight.
The confrontation followed the neighbors walking up to the fence and asking the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said.
The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, and one person in the house recorded video footage of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle, he said.
Rene Arevalo Sr, who lives a few houses down, said he heard gunshots around midnight but didn’t think anything of it.
“It’s a normal thing people do around here, especially on Fridays after work,” Arevalo said. “They get home and start drinking in their backyards and shooting out there.”
Capers said his deputies had been to Oropeza’s home at least once before and spoken with him about “shooting his gun in the yard.”
It was not clear whether any action was taken at the time.
Since Jan. 1, there have been at least 18 shootings in the US that left four or more people dead, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today, in partnership with Northeastern University.
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