Skip to main content

"Zero Leads" On Texas Man Accused Of Killing 5 Neighbours Still On: Cops

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.

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

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg 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.

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 (72 km) 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.

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.

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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/rF3ijVn
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

US Power Firm Admits It May Have Sparked Texas' Largest Wildfire Ever

A US power company admitted Thursday that its equipment may have sparked the largest wildfire in Texas' history. Xcel -- the parent of Southwest Public Service Company, which provides electricity to part of the state -- said it was working with officials investigating the cause of the blaze that charred more than a million acres (over 400,000 hectares). "Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire," the company said. Hundreds of homes are thought to have been destroyed in the fire, which is known to have killed at least two people and over 3,000 farm animals. Xcel, which is facing at least one lawsuit, denied its equipment was improperly maintained. "However, we encourage people who had property destroyed by, or livestock lost in, the Smokehouse Creek fire to submit a claim to Xcel Energy through our claims process," the statement said. The W
Post a Comment
Read more

It's Official, Kamala Harris Is Democratic Candidate For US Election

US Vice President Kamala Harris effectively secured the Democratic party's presidential nomination Friday, confirming her remarkable rise to party standard bearer in November's showdown against Republican Donald Trump. Kamala Harris was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates. She will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month. "I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States," Kamala Harris, 59, said on a phone-in to a party celebration after securing enough votes by the second day of the marathon vote. In the two weeks since President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, Kamala Harris has gained full control of the party. No other Democrats stepped forward to challenge her elevation to the top of the ticket, making her confirmation as the first Black and South Asian woman ever to secure a major party's nomination a formality. The a
Post a Comment
Read more

All You Need To Know About Donald Trump's 1st Criminal Trial

Donald Trump goes on trial Monday for allegedly covering up hush money payments to hide affairs ahead of the 2016 presidential election which propelled him into the White House. He will become the first former US president to go on criminal trial when jury selection begins next week. Here are the key questions ahead of the landmark trial: What is Trump accused of? As Trump closed in on victory in the 2016 presidential election, adult film star Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged 2006 sexual tryst with Trump. The payments, made by Trump's lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, were revealed by The Wall Street Journal in January 2018. Prosecutors have seized on the concealment of the payments as "legal fees" in the Trump Organization's accounts when Cohen was reimbursed as the heart of their case. Prosecutors say Trump "concealed the reason for these payments... which clearly were paid in order to influence voters," former prosec
Post a Comment
Read more