CLEVELAND, TEXAS (AP) – A Texas man went next door with a rifle and fatally shot five of his neighbours, 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 warned 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 said it is not uncommon to hear neighbours unwind by firing off guns.
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said 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 “10 to 20 miles” from the murder scene. He said Oropeza may still have a weapon but that he believes authorities have the rifle used in the shooting.
Capers said they found clothes and a phone while combing a rural area that includes dense layers of forest but that tracking dogs had lost the scent.
Capers said the victims were between the ages of eight and 31 years old and that all were believed to be from Honduras. All were 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 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, Capers said.
The confrontation followed the neighbours 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, Capers said, and one person in the house got a video of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle.
