A manhunt remains underway for the suspect in a mass shooting that killed five people in a small Texas town on Friday.
Driving the news: Police identified Francisco Oropeza, 38, as the suspect in the case on Saturday. Oropeza lives near the Cleveland, Texas home where the shooting occurred around 11:30 pm local time on Friday night.
- San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said Saturday that Oropeza is believed to have used an AR-15 to fire into the home after he was asked to stop shooting the rifle in his yard.
- A doorbell camera at the victims’ home later photographed approaching the home with the rifle, Capers said.
What we know about the shooting
Capers said the incident began after at least one of the residents in the home asked Oropeza to stop shooting a gun in his yard.
- Wilson Garcia, who owns the home where the shooting occurred, said his family had company over that night. “We were going to make something to eat, the guy, came out and he was shooting. We asked him to be quiet ’cause my baby was scared,” Garcia told KTRK-TV via a translator.
- Oropeza reportedly responded that he would do what he wanted in his own yard.
- Garcia said they warned Oropeza they would call the police if he did not stop shooting, and that he walked across the yard and shot Garcia’s wife, Sonia Argentina Guzman, while she stood in the front door.
- “Then he went room to room, looking for people,” Garcia told KTRK.
- Garcia told KTRK he has lived in the home for three years and never had problems with Oropeza.
- Capers said they believe Oropeza had been drinking prior to the altercation.
What we know about the victims
Five people were killed in the shooting, Capers said in a press conference on Saturday.
- The victims were identified by law enforcement as: Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8.
- All four adult victims were pronounced dead at the scene. Laso was transported to a local hospital where he later died, Capers said.
- Two of the victims were found in a bedroom, shielding two young children with their bodies.
- Those two children, along with a third, were found covered in blood, police said, but were not injured. They were transported to a local hospital, but not identified by authorities.
- All victims were shot “from the neck up,” Capers said. He also described the injuries as “almost execution-style.”
Ten people were in the house at the time of the shooting, though they are believed to not be members of the same family, authorities said.
- The four adult victims were all from Honduras.
- Some of those in the home had moved there in the past week from Houston.
- Garcia identified Guzman as his wife and Laso as his son when speaking to KTRK. The relationships between the other victims to each other, and to Garcia, have not been confirmed by officials.
Manhunt underway for Oropeza
The FBI has joined the search to locate Oropeza, who remains at large at this time.
- Capers said Oropeza was identified in part by his Mexican consulate card.
- Both the FBI and the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office are warning the public not to approach Oropeza if he’s seen as he is believed to be armed and dangerous.
- Oropeza is thought to have fled the scene on foot, Capers said Saturday.
- Authorities tracked him through his cell phone until it was discovered abandoned along with several items of clothing. Tracking dogs were then brought in and picked up the scent, but later lost it.
- “He could be anywhere now,” Capers said.
- An arrest warrant has been issued for Oropeza on five counts of murder. His bond is set at $5 million.
