Man suspected of killing 5 neighbours arrested after days-long manhunt in Texas

Authorities near Houston said they have caught a man suspected of killing five neighbors, including a nine-year-old boy, with an AR-style rifle after the family confronted him late at night about firing rounds in the yard.

Francisco Oropesa, 38, was arrested Tuesday, four days after the last shooting in the city of Cleveland, Texas, about 70 kilometers north of Houston, according to Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson.

Oropesa was arrested without incident, Henderson said. The sheriff would not say whether Oropesa was armed or how authorities knew where he was.

Police used drones and scent-tracking dogs in the search, which included combing through thick woods not far from the scene.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said Oropesa had fled the scene after the attack. He said deputies have been called to the suspect’s home at least once before over shots fired in his yard.

WATCH | How the hunt opens:

A manhunt is underway after the Texas mass shooting

US authorities are searching for an east Texas man who allegedly killed five of his neighbors on Friday, including an eight-year-old boy. Police believe the suspect killed them after being asked to put down an AR-15-style rifle in the yard because a baby was sleeping.

Friday’s shooting happened after the suspect’s neighbors asked them not to fire rounds in their yard at night because a baby was trying to sleep.

At Sunday’s vigil in Cleveland, Wilson Garcia, the boy’s father, described the frantic efforts at his home by friends and family that night to escape, hide and protect himself and the children after a gunman walked into the house and began shooting, killing his wife. first at the front door.

The victims were identified as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who has faced a backlash over drawing attention to the victims’ immigration status, had offered a $50,000 reward over the weekend for any tips leading to the gunman’s death. The three-term governor described all the victims as “illegal immigrants” — a statement that may have been false if his office came back and apologized Monday.

More than 250 law enforcement officers from various agencies, including the US Marshals, are part of the search.

Oropesa is a Mexican national who has been deported four times, according to US immigration officials – in March 2009, September 2009, January 2012 and July 2016.