Reward Now $8K for Man in US Illegally Who Killed 5 in Texas

Over 200 law enforcement officers in Texas searched on Sunday for a man accused of shooting to death five neighbors after being asked to stop firing a semiautomatic rifle in Cleveland, Texas.

Francisco Oropesa, 38, is accused of opening fire on neighbors after being asked to stop shooting an AR-15-style rifle late Friday because it was keeping a baby awake. The victims include an 8-year-old boy.

Oropesa was in the United States illegally, Fox News reported on Sunday. And Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday that the victims also were in the country illegally.

Fox quoted a source as saying he has been previously deported and has “multiple illegal reentries on his record.” His last interaction with immigration officials was in 2016, according to the source.

The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8. They were all believed to be living in the house, but were not members of a single family, according to the FBI.

“My heart is with this 8-year-old little boy,” San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg  said on Sunday, choking back tears. “I don’t care if he was here legally. I don’t care if he was here illegally. He was in my county. Five people died in my county. And that is where my heart is, in my county protecting my people to the best of our ability.”

“Right now, we have zero leads,” FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge James Smith told reporters on Sunday.

Capers said over 200 law enforcement personnel were going door-to-door looking for the suspect or any tips on how to find him. Officials are offering an $80,000 reward for information that will lead to the suspect’s apprehension.

The reward has been raised following a contribution from the FBI, which is leading the investigation.

Oropesa’s name had been spelled “Oropeza” in early communications from law enforcement but was changed “to better reflect his identity in law enforcement systems,” the FBI said on Sunday. It gave no further detail.

Officials received a call from the home in Cleveland, about 45 miles north of Houston, at 11:31 p.m. Friday.

Capers said on Saturday that the suspect stepped out of his house on Friday night and started shooting off rounds in his yard, which is when some of the victims stepped out to ask him to stop.

“The man walked over to the fence, said ‘Hey, we’re trying to keep the baby asleep in here,'” Capers said.

Both parties then went back to their houses. Oropesa “topped off his magazine and walked down his driveway” onto the street then “into the people’s house and started shooting,” Capers said.

Capers had said most of the victims had been shot in the head, “almost execution-style.” Police said all five were from Honduras.

Police had been called to the suspect’s house on a couple of previous occasions over complaints about noise from gunfire in his yard, Capers said.

Mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States, with at least 176 so far in 2023, the most at this point in the year since at least 2016, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The nonprofit group defines a mass shooting as any in which four or more people are wounded or killed, not including the shooter.