8-year-old among 5 dead in Texas shooting; armed suspect on the loose
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The shooting took place late on Friday and the police were still looking for the suspect.
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CLEVELAND, Texas – Francisco Oropeza was firing his gun in his yard again on Friday night, rattling off loud bangs that were keeping Wilson Garcia’s baby awake.
So Mr Garcia said he went over to his neighbour and asked if he could stop.
Oropeza, whom authorities said had been drinking, said no. His yard, he said, his rules.
Mr Garcia, 30, warned that he would call police. But after Oropeza, 38, walked back to his house, he reemerged with an AR-15.
He walked toward Mr Garcia’s cream-coloured home, where he shot and killed Mr Garcia’s wife, who had called police and was standing near the entrance.
The rampage continued inside Mr Garcia’s home, where authorities said Oropeza fatally shot four other people, “almost execution-style”.
“He wanted to kill us all to leave no evidence,” Mr Garcia said in an interview.
Authorities have charged Oropeza, 38, with five counts of murder. Several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, were searching homes and wooded areas on foot and with drones to find him, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said on Saturday.
“He is on the run in the Sam Houston National Forest over here in San Jacinto County. We are tracking him with dogs and men on horseback and drones in the air,” said Mr Capers.
There were a total of 10 people in the house when the gunman got in and started shooting, said Mr Capers.
Three people were taken to hospitals after the shooting, which happened around 11:30pm. Their conditions were not immediately known. The victims were all from Honduras, officials said.
Mr Enrique Reina, the Foreign Minister of Honduras, said the Honduran consulate was in contact with the authorities in Texas.
“We demand that the full weight of the law be applied against the person responsible for this crime,” he wrote on Twitter.
The FBI identified the victims as: Mr Garcia’s wife, Sonia Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Juliza Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, eight. But there was conflicting information on Saturday. Earlier in the day, authorities said that among the victims was a 15-year-old girl.
Mr Garcia, who moved to the United States from Honduras three years ago, said he had “never had any problems” with Oropeza.
He said that after Oropeza shot his wife, the gunman chased him. Mr Garcia escaped through a window and ran outside.
“I thought he was going to follow me,” he said. “But after he couldn’t catch me, he went back to the house to finish them off.”
Mr Garcia said he went to a family member’s house to hide. But then he returned to his home.
“I came back for my two children,” he said. “They were hiding in the closet. The two women protecting them when they died – they were hugging them.” NYTIMES, REUTERS
