Law enforcement at a crime scene where five people, including an 8-year-old child, were killed after a shooting inside a home on April 29, 2023 in Cleveland, Texas. Photo: AFP / Go Nakamura
A man who authorities believe is the suspect accused of killing five neighbours in Texas over has been arrested near the crime scene, NBC News reports, citing a prosecutor.
The report came as the FBI said it was working with law enforcement agencies nationwide and in Mexico in an expanded, four-day manhunt for the killer sought since Friday night's violence in Cleveland, Texas, north of Houston.
The suspect was identified this week as Francisco Oropesa, 38, a Mexican national who immigration officials say had been deported from the United States four times since 2009.
A man thought to be Oropesa was arrested on Tuesday in the town of Cut and Shoot, Texas, roughly 17 miles west of Cleveland, NBC News reported, citing San Jacinto District Attorney Todd Dillon.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the arrest. But the FBI field office in Houston said a news conference was expected Tuesday night for an announcement about the case.
Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Houston James Smith and San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers speak to media near the crime scene where five people, including an 8-year-old child, were killed after a shooting inside a home in Cleveland, Texas. Photo: Go Nakamura / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP
Law enforcement officials said on Sunday that the suspect's trail had grown cold as they appealed to the public for tips and offered an $80,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Friday night's bloodshed erupted over noise complaints from the suspect's neighbors, according to law enforcement officials.
Authorities said Oropesa stepped out of his house and starting firing bursts from his semi-automatic rifle, prompting neighbors to ask him to stop because the gunshots were keeping their baby awake.
According to police accounts from eyewitnesses, the suspect went inside his house and reloaded, then barged into the neighbour's home and opened fire, killing five of the 10 people inside, including an 8-year-old boy.
Most of the victims, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said, were shot in the head. All five of those slain were from Honduras and were living at the address but were not all family members, Capers said.
The suspect fled the scene, and as of Sunday the FBI said it had "zero leads" as to his whereabouts.
The sheriff said deputies had been called to Oropesa's house before over complaints about gunfire in his yard. Capers said police had recovered the weapon used in Friday night's shooting and other guns in the suspect's home, and believed he might have been armed with a pistol when he disappeared.
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.
- Reuters