A search is still underway for a Texas man who killed his neighbors after he was asked to stop firing rounds in his yard because they were trying to sleep, according to NBC News.
The gunman, Francisco Oropesa, 38, is still on the run more than 24 hours after the shooting that left five of his neighbors dead, including an 8-year-old boy.
Police had widened the search to as far as 32 kilometres from the scene of the shooting after finding his clothes and cellphone in dense layers of forest within 2 miles of a search area on Saturday, but tracking dogs lost his scent, San Jacinto Sheriff Greg Capers said.
“He could be anywhere now,” Capers said.
Though officers recovered the AR-15-style rifle that Oropesa allegedly used in the massacre, they are still urging the public to be cautious because he may still be armed and dangerous.
“We consider him armed and dangerous,” James Smith, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston-area office said. “He is out there, and he’s a threat to the community.”
Authorities say the confrontation began after Oropeza, who is originally from Mexico, was asked to stop firing rounds in his yard because young children in the home were trying to sleep.
“The neighbors walked over and said … ‘Hey man, can you not do that, we’ve got an infant in here trying to sleep’ or whatever,” San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said, according to the Washington Post. “They went back in their house and then we have a video of him walking up their driveway with his AR-15.”
The victims were all from Honduras and have been identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8.
“All of them were headshot in an execution style,” Capers said.
Three children were found covered in blood and were taken to the hospital. They were not physically harmed. Two others in the home were evaluated at the scene and released.
The FBI previously spelled the suspect’s last name as “Oropeza” but released the updated spelling as “Oropesa” on Sunday “to better reflect his identity in law enforcement systems,” the FBI Houston office said. The agency also released new images of the suspect including an image of a tattoo on his left forearm.
