[ad_1] A Mexican national is suspected of killing five neighbours in southeast Texas after one of them asked him to stop shooting his rifle late Fri
[ad_1]
A Mexican national is suspected of killing five neighbours in southeast Texas after one of them asked him to stop shooting his rifle late Friday, saying that a baby was trying to sleep.
The suspect in the execution-style killings is Francisco Oropeza, 39, a Mexican national, according to San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers, Fox News reports.
Police have located Oropeza and are hopeful that he will soon be in custody, Sheriff Capers said.
The sheriff said police have pinned the suspect in a wooded area almost 2km west of the crime scene, where an eight-year-old boy was one of the five killed.
Sheriff Capers also said that a perimeter has been set up in the wooded area, adding that around 50-75 law enforcement officers were in the area searching for Oropeza.
The Texas Department of Corrections has sent a team with dogs, officers on horseback and a drone in the air to assist with Oropeza’s arrest, police said.
In a tweet, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said that it was assisting in the search for Oropeza.
Sheriff Capers told Fox News Digital he was “praying” that the suspect would be in custody in the next two to four hours.
He said this was the first mass shooting incident with more than three victims his office had ever dealt with.
“Nobody should ever have to witness this,” Sheriff Capers said.
“Nobody should ever have to live through this.
“These people stepped out to ask him to quiet down, and he took offence to that and walked into their house and basically executed them.”
Just before midnight, deputies with the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to respond to a call for “harassment” at the 100 block of Walters Road in the Trails End area of Cleveland, about 80km north of Houston.
En route to the scene, the sheriff’s office received multiple 911 calls about an active shooter at the location. Upon arriving, officers discovered five people had been shot at the residence, police said.
According to the sheriff, the suspect was a neighbour who had been firing an AR-15-style .223 caliber rifle in his yard before midnight. Police found shell casings in the yard.
“One of the victims came out of the house and said, hey, we have a small baby that’s trying to sleep,” Sheriff Casper told KTRK.
“And the man said, I’ll shoot out in my front yard, I do what I want to in my own residence.”
Witnesses told investigators the gunman was drinking alcohol.
What happened next is shocking. Police say the man walked up to the front door of his neighbour’s house and began firing.
One victim was found by the doorway leading into the living room. Another victim was found dead in the living room.
Two more women were found shot dead upstairs, their bodies shielding young children who survived and were taken to a hospital.
Sheriff Caspers said each victim had been shot in the head.
When police arrived, four people were pronounced dead at the scene and an eight-year-old boy was airlifted in critical condition to a local trauma centre, where he died, Sheriff Capers said.
A SWAT unit from neighbouring Montgomery County arrived to assist and cleared several properties near to the crime scene. The shooter was determined to have fled the county.
Three other victims were taken to the hospital “covered in blood,” according to the sheriff’s office. It was not clear if they were injured or if the blood belonged to the other victims.
Sheriff Capers said that the victims were from Honduras. He said a total of 10 people were living in the house.
Of those killed, four were adults, one male and three females, while the youngest was just eight years old. The three other victims who were taken to the hospital were children.
Two other people inside the residence were evaluated at the scene and released, police said.
“When we got here, the two females in the bedroom were actually laying over the top of the younger children, two of the three younger children” that survived, Sheriff Capers said.
The sheriff’s office is withholding the identities of the victims pending notification of next of kin, but says it has a copy of Oropeza’s consular identification card.
Sheriff Caspers said authorities confiscated a shotgun, two rifles, including the .223 caliber rifle, and a pistol from the victims’ residence.
A judge issued a warrant for the suspect’s arrest and assigned a $5 million bond.
Texas Rangers are assisting with the ongoing investigation. Police are asking the public to avoid the area, as there is still a heavy police presence.
This story was published by Fox News and reproduced with permission
[ad_2]
Source link
COMMENTS