The man suspected of fatally shooting five people, including a child, at a neighbor’s house in Cleveland, Texas was arrested on Tuesday evening after a four-day manhunt.
Summary
The man suspected of fatally shooting five people, including a child, at a neighbor’s house in Cleveland, Texas was arrested on Tuesday evening after a four-day manhunt.
- Authorities were tipped off to the location of the suspected gunman in the city of Cut and Shoot, Texas, and found him hiding in a house underneath a laundry pile in a closet.
- The arrest was made about an hour after authorities received the tip. Officials later confirmed the person who called in the tip will receive a reward of $80,000.
- Neighbors asked Francisco Oropesa, 38, to stop firing his rifle in his yard to let their baby fall asleep. Instead, he allegedly entered the home and murdered five people.
- Oropresa has been identified by immigration officials as a Mexican national who has been deported at least 4 times since 2009. Oropresa is being held on $5 million bail after being charged with 5 counts of murder.
- “They can rest easy now, because he is behind bars,” said San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers of the victims’ loved ones. “He will live out his life behind bars for killing those five.”
- The Honduran Foreign Ministry identified the five murder victims, all Honduran immigrants, as Sonia Guzman, 28; Diana Velasquez, 21; Obdulia Molina, 31; Jonathan Caceres, 18, and Daniel Enrique Lazo, nine.
- As the New York Times wrote, “The sound of gunfire — whether from hunting, or target practice, or celebration — is common in much of rural America. Perhaps nowhere is this more true than in Texas, where the occasional volley rarely raises alarm.” As such, police did not rush to the scene when the family called to report the sound of gunfire – and by the time they arrived, five people were dead.
- Although the sheriff declined to say who owned the home where Oropesa was arrested, the CNN reported property records indicate the home belongs to one of his relatives and that deputies tracked his wife to the town of Cut and Shoot were Oropesa was arrested.
- According to the Washington Post, “The wide-ranging search raised questions about some aspects of the early investigation, including an allegation by the victims’ family that deputies were slow to respond, the FBI initially identifying the wrong man as the suspect and the real suspect possessing at least five guns despite being an undocumented immigrant.”
- Fox News noted that in addition to being deported four times since 2009, the suspect was also convicted of driving under the influence in January 2021 and served time in jail.
- Breitbart reported Oropesa was arrested by “a team of U.S. Marshal Deputies, Texas Department of Public Safety CID agents, and Border Patrol’s elite BORTAC agents.” The San Jacinto County district attorney will now take the lead in prosecuting the case.
- According to the New York Post, “FBI assistant special agent in charge Jimmy Paul said the tip leading to Oropesa’s capture came in through the federal agency’s tip line. The FBI received the tip at around 5:15 p.m. and Oropesa was captured around 6:30 p.m.”
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© Dominic Moore, 2023
