The manhunt to arrest Francisco Oropeza, the 38-year-old of Mexican origin, is spreading in Texas, accused of killing five neighbors, including an 8-year-old boy, with an Ar-15 semi-automatic rifle on Friday evening after one of them had asked to stop shooting in the garden so as not to disturb. Residents of Cleveland, a town of 7,500 people 60 km northeast of Houston, and the surrounding rural area were urged to remain alert and lock the door to their homes. “Stay at home. Be vigilant. Keep an eye out. If you see something, report it,” San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers appealed. “He could be anywhere and armed, it’s very dangerous,” he warned, even though investigators have already recovered the Ar-15 used in the massacre, along with the cell phone and the clothes abandoned by the suspect. Other weapons were confiscated from his home.
Hundreds of agents, including the FBI, trained dogs and drones are employed in the search for the “killer next door”. And a $50,000 bounty. Meanwhile, the authorities have identified the victims, all from Honduras: Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, Sonia Argentina Guzman (25), Diana Velazquez Alvarado (21), Jose Jonathan Casarez (18) and Daniel Enrique Laso, only 8 years old. all hit in the head. Five other people who lived in the same house were saved, including three children: two women, who lost their lives, shielded them with their bodies. It all happened in seconds on Friday night. “The neighbors came to him and said … ‘Hey man, you can avoid shooting, we have a baby trying to sleep,’” the sheriff said. But the man replied that he had the right to do as he pleased on his property. Shortly thereafter, “someone in the house recorded video of the suspect walking up their driveway with his Ar-15,” Capers said. Oropeza often shot in the backyard, as if it were a shooting range. Earlier he also threatened to kill a neighbor’s dog. Authorities had gone to speak to him, but it’s unclear whether they’ve taken legal action: Shooting on your own property may be illegal, the sheriff admitted. The victims had moved a few days earlier from Houston to Cleveland to live in what they thought was a quiet country house.