ALBAWABA - U.S. police arrested a man accused of shooting dead five of his neighbors after they asked him to stop firing his semi-automatic AR-15 rifle.
Francisco Oropesa, 38, was captured without incident Tuesday near Houston, (32 kilometers) away from his home in the rural town of Cleveland, where authorities say he went next door and shot his neighbors with an AR-style rifle on Friday night when some of them asked him to stop firing rounds in his yard.
BREAKING: The man accused of killing five neighbors, including a 9-year-old, in Texas has been arrested in the city of Cut and Shoot, 40 miles north of Houston
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) May 3, 2023
pic.twitter.com/lL4lvt0qVz
The victims were identified as Sonia Guzman, 28, Diana Velasquez, 21, Obdulia Molina, 31, Jonathan Caceres, 18, and nine-year-old Daniel Enrique Lazo.
BREAKING: The man believed to be the accused killer of 5 of his neighbors with a semi-automatic Ar-15 firearm, Francisco Oropesa, has just been arrested in the city of Cut and Shoot, Texas according to the San Jacinto County District Attorney.
Authorities are waiting for… pic.twitter.com/FxLhG8cNbE— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) May 3, 2023
A manhunt in the past three days involved more than 250 law enforcement officers. Authorities had offered a $50,000 (€45,000) reward for information on the suspect's whereabouts.
Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) in a joint operation with other law enforcement
— Mayra Flores (@MayraFlores2022) May 3, 2023
just caught Francisco Oropesa, the man wanted for killing five innocent people in Cleveland, Texas.
God bless our Law Enforcement. #HonorFirst pic.twitter.com/CfTRkaCai4
"He took everything from us, and now we’re living a nightmare from which we’ll never wake up," said Lucia Guzman, aunt of one of the victims.
"The arrest will never erase what he did to my family, but at least now we can hope for some justice," she said.
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers told reporters following the arrest late Tuesday that the suspect was "caught hiding in a closet underneath some laundry."
