Wilson Garcia, who survived the shooting, said friends and family in the home tried to hide and shield themselves and children after Oropeza walked up to the home and began firing, killing his wife first at the front door. Greg Abbott offered a $50,000 reward as the search dragged late into the weekend, while others offered an additional $30,000 in reward money.Ĭapers said that prior to Friday's shooting deputies had been called to the suspect's house at least one other time previously over shooting rounds in his yard.Īll of the victims were from Honduras. Marshals, Texas Department of Public Safety and US Border Patrol's BORTAC team.ĭrones and scent-tracking dogs had been used during the widening manhunt, which included combing a heavily wooded forest a few miles from the scene. Hagan said the three agencies that went in to arrest Oropeza were the U.S. They also would not say whether friends or family had helped Oropeza evade capture, or where he had been since fleeing the scene in Cleveland, which authorities previously said was likely on foot. Authorities did not say who owned the house, whether Oropeza knew them or if anyone else was inside when he was found. immigration officialsĬonnor Hagan, an FBI spokesman, said they would not disclose the identity of the person who called in the tip - one of more than 200 tips he says investigators received. The alleged shooter is a Mexican national who has been deported four times between 20, according to U.S. The tip that finally ended the chase came at 5:15 p.m., and a little more than an hour later, Oropeza was in custody, said FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul. As recently as Tuesday morning, the FBI said that Oropeza "could be anywhere," underlining how investigators for days struggled to get a sense of his whereabouts and candidly acknowledged they had no leads. The arrest ends what had become a widening dragnet that had grown to more than 250 people from multiple jurisdictions and had seen $80,000 in reward money offered. "He will live out his life behind bars for killing those five." "They can rest easy now, because he is behind bars," Capers said of the families of the victims. Oropeza will be charged with five counts of murder, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said. Oropeza had been shooting rounds on his property and the attack occurred after neighbours asked him to go farther away because the gunfire was keeping a baby awake, according to police. That's where authorities say he went next door and shot his neighbours with an AR-style rifle shortly before midnight Friday. A four-day manhunt in Texas for a gunman accused of killing five neighbours ended Tuesday when authorities, acting on a tip, said they found the suspect hiding underneath a pile of laundry in the closet of a house.įrancisco Oropeza, 38, was captured without incident near the community of Conroe, north of Houston and about 20 miles (32 kilometres) from his home in the rural town of Cleveland.
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