US: Hunt for suspect as 5 killed in Texas after noise complaint
Neighbors had reportedly complained about noise from the suspect firing a shotgun in his yard, police said.
Police in the United States are on the hunt for a man suspected of shooting to death five neighbors, including an 8-year-old boy, after some asked him to stop firing a semi-automatic rifle in his front yard in Cleveland, Texas . because it kept their baby awake.
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers told reporters Saturday that the search area for the suspect, 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, could now be as large as “10 or 20 miles” (16 to 32 km) as the gunman remained at large . more than 15 hours after shooting his neighbors on Friday night.
The shooting took place near the city of Cleveland, Texas, about 72 km north of Houston. The suspect may still be in possession of his weapon, an AR-15 style rifle, the sheriff said.
“We follow him with dogs and men on horseback and drones in the air,” Capers said.
On Friday night, the suspect began shooting bullets from his shotgun in his yard when some of his neighbors stepped outside to confront him over a noise, Capers said.
“The guy walked up to the gate and said, ‘Hey, we’re trying to put the baby to sleep here,'” Capers said. Both parties then went back to their homes.
The suspect then “topped up his magazine and walked down his driveway” into the street, then “into the people’s house and started firing, Capers said.
He was quoted by other news outlets as saying that all of the victims had been shot in the head “almost execution style”.
All five victims were from Honduras, according to police. There were a total of 10 people in the house when the attack happened, Capers said, five of whom survived.
The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velázquez Alvarado, 21; Julia Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8. They were all said to live in the home, but were not members of any single family, according to the FBI.
Police had been called to the suspect’s home a few times before over complaints about noise he was making while firing his gun into his yard, Capers said.
Enrique Reina, Honduras’ secretary of state, said the Honduran consulate was in contact with authorities in Texas.
“We demand that the full weight of the law be applied against the person responsible for this crime,” he wrote on Twitter.
There have been at least 18 shootings in the U.S. since Jan. 1 that killed four or more people, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today, in conjunction with Northeastern University.