Francisco Oropesa, Cleveland, Texas shooting suspect arrested after 4 day manhunt. Man who barged into house and shot 5 dead after told to stop shooting his gun in the backyard late at night captured. History of ongoing harassment of his neighbors.
Texas authorities captured a Mexican national accused of fatally shooting five people — including a 9-year-old boy — at a Cleveland residence, early Tuesday evening, following a four day manhunt for the wanted man.
Francisco Oropesa, 38, was arrested and taken into custody without incident, Tuesday around 7pm according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department.
The wanted man has been charged with first-degree murder and taken to Montgomery County Jail, according to an NBC News report. San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon told the outlet the suspect was caught in the city of Cut and Shoot, Texas.
Oropesa’s arrest Tuesday ends a four day manhunt that included more than 250 officers from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
Oropesa is accused of gunning down five neighbors after he was asked to stop firing shots in his yard in the Cleveland, Texas neighborhood, authorities have said.
BREAKING: The illegal immigrant Francisco Oropesa who was accused of killing five neighbors in Texas including a 9 year old boy has been arrested 40 miles north of Houston.
According to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement source, Oropesa has been deported at least four… pic.twitter.com/1LNZkmHBm1
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 3, 2023
Ongoing harassment of neighbors
The suspect refused to comply, and after the family called 911 five times, the allegedly drunk man walked up to their home armed with an AR-15 style rifle.
Survivor and grieving father Wilson Garcia said his wife confronted Oropesa, believing he wouldn’t shoot a woman. Sonia Guzman, 25, however, was the first to die, followed by her son, Daniel Enrique Laso, 9, who rushed to try to help her.
Along with the mother and son, police identified the other victims as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21, Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18. All the victims were Honduran nationals.
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers noted that Alvarado and Rivera had used their bodies to protect their three children, who were found uninjured but covered in blood inside the home.
Breaking: Suspected Texas shooter Francisco Oropesa, 38, arrested after 4-day manhunt. Responsible for fatal shootings of 5 people, including a child, according to San Jacinto County DA Todd Dillon. #TexasShooting #Manhunt #BreakingNewshttps://t.co/VLE6MU4aJW pic.twitter.com/TgkxYNTIJg
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) May 3, 2023
He added that all five victims were shot from the neck up, ‘execution-style,’ before Oropesa fled the scene.
According to Sheriff Greg Capers, Oropesa had been warned before to stop shooting his gun in the yard. The wanted man is alleged to have waged ongoing harassment of his neighbors with police called over several times.
The search was slightly hindered at the start when the FBI initially released the wrong photo of the suspect, causing the misidentified man, whose name was similar to the suspect, to go into hiding over fears that he would be targeted.
Authorities admitted on Sunday that they had ‘zero leads’ on Oropesa’s whereabouts and that he could be anywhere.
Officials then received a tip on Monday about a possible sighting in Montgomery County, leading to a lockdown in the Conroe area. The tip, however, did not lead to any results.
There was a combined $100,000 reward from Texas and the FBI for any critical information on Oropesa’s whereabouts. It was not immediately known if someone has claimed the reward.
