Officials in Texas reported that a man killed five of his neighbours, including an eight-year-old, with an AR-15-style weapon after the family requested him to cease firing shots in the man’s garden.
Following the overnight shooting in Cleveland, a town about 45 miles north of Houston, the local sheriff told The Washington Post that a search was underway to find Francisco Oropeza, 39. Greg Capers, the sheriff for San Jacinto County, informed the newspaper that Mr Oropeza had been charged with five counts of murder.
There were ten family members there when the shooting took place. Between the ages of eight and around forty, three ladies, a man, and a boy were killed. The other members of the family were unharmed.
All of the dead are thought to be Hondurans although their names have not yet been made public. Two of the ladies, according to Mr Capers, were discovered in a bedroom sleeping on top of two kids in an apparent attempt to protect them.
He said: “It’s horrific. No one should ever have to look at this scene, the blood, the trauma that went on in that house.”
All of the dead are thought to be Hondurans although their names have not yet been made public. Two of the ladies, according to Mr Capers, were discovered in a bedroom sleeping on top of two kids in an apparent attempt to protect them.
“The neighbours walked over and said… ‘Hey man, can you not do that, we’ve got an infant in here trying to sleep’ or whatever,” Mr Capers told the Washington Post.
“They went back in their house and then we have a video of him walking up their driveway with his AR-15.”
The shooter fled after the killings but was believed to be about two miles away from the home Saturday morning, according to the sheriff. A warrant for his arrest has been issued.
The sheriff’s office had previously been to the suspect’s home to speak to him “about him shooting his gun in the yard,” according to Mr Capers.
