A man suspected of using an AR-15 rifle to kill five neighbors execution-style continued to elude an army of police officers searching for him on the outskirts of Houston over the weekend.
Authorities said Sunday afternoon that Francisco Oropesa, 38, apparently escaped a 2-mile raid by more than 150 law enforcement officers in Cleveland, Texas, about 45 miles north of Houston on Saturday.
On Sunday, they said, more than 250 officers were continuing the search.
Oropesa is suspected of opening fire on neighbors Friday night after one complained that gunshots from his adjacent property were preventing a baby from sleeping, authorities said.
Oropesa, who was born in Mexico, has no criminal record to speak of, and his immigration status was not entirely clear Sunday. Authorities said he may have been intoxicated before the attack.
Shawn Crawford, a neighbor who said he knew Oropesa and the victims, described the community as «family oriented» and the suspect as a «family man.»
«He’s always working, training his horse,» Crawford said. «I’ve never seen a fight, an argument, raise your voice, nothing.»
Complaints about shootings in the past, he said, were easily addressed, since Oropesa would be moving to another side of his property. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers acknowledged earlier reports of shootings, which he said may not have been illegal, depending on the size of his property.
The characterization of an impartial family man would seem to make the disappearance of the suspect all the more unexpected. Law enforcement officials said they were in contact with Oropesa’s wife but had no leads beyond her apparent contact with someone Saturday afternoon.
“We’re hitting dead ends,” James Smith, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston-area office, said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. «Right now we have zero leads.»
On Saturday, searchers found the suspect’s cell phone and some of his clothing before scent-tracking dogs lost it, authorities said.
Capers, the sheriff, said authorities seized the rifle used in the attack, but the suspect may still be armed with a handgun.
Court records of a 2012 drunk driving conviction, stemming from a 2009 Texas Highway Patrol arrest, match the suspect’s name and date of birth and suggest he may have been familiar with the area for more than one of each.
On Sunday, Capers vowed to give the search his full attention as adjacent agencies, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives joined the search.
«It’s my number one priority to find him,» Capers said.
A vigil was held Sunday afternoon for the youngest victim, 8-year-old Daniel Enrique Laso. The others killed in the attack were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzmán, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18.
All were believed to be from Honduras.
«My heart goes out to this 8-year-old boy,» Capers said Sunday. «I don’t care if he was here legally. I don’t care if he was here illegally. He was in my county. Five people died in my county, and that’s where my heart is: in my county protecting our people.» the best we can.»
The reward money for information leading to the suspect’s arrest was fueled by a pledge of $25,000 from the FBI, coming to $80,000 in total.
As law enforcement went door to door looking for security video or clues that could lead to the suspect, the FBI retracted a photo that had been released and distributed several new images, including one of a tattoo on the suspect’s forearm. suspicious, to help the public. Recognize it and report it if anyone comes across it.
«We moved quickly to remove that photo,» he said. «We are now 100% sure that we have the correct photo out there.»
Authorities previously said Oropesa marched into his neighbors’ residence with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and determinedly pointed it at his victims.
Capers responded at a press conference on Saturday when a reporter suggested the victims may have been sprayed with firearms, explaining in a later interview:
“All of them were execution style headshots,” he said.
He described the actions of the gunman, as they were allegedly known to investigators, on Friday before midnight.
«This man takes it upon himself to walk out of his residence with a loaded AR-15, go out into the street, walk down the street, walk into that man’s driveway, walk into that man’s house, and start shooting.»
All four adult victims were dead at the scene; the 8-year-old boy died at a hospital, authorities said. Three other children may have been saved by two women in the house who covered them with their bodies, Capers said.
In all, he said, he believed 15 rounds were fired.