Texas: Man That Killed 5 Neighbors Found Hiding Under Laundry in a Closet

**kellyhound** · #1 ● 05-03-2023, 04:29 PM

Francisco Oropesa has been on the run since he allegedly killed five people in Cleveland, Texas, on Friday. He was found Tuesday hiding under laundry in a closet, officials said.

The man accused of killing five of his neighbors with an AR-15 rifle in their Texas home was arrested Tuesday, after a tip led authorities to a house less than 20 miles from where the crimes took place, officials said.

The arrest of Francisco Oropesa, 38, in the city of Cut and Shoot, Texas, marked the end of a massive manhunt that was in its fourth day Tuesday.

A tip called into an FBI line at 5:15 p.m. led to Oropesa's arrest at 6:30 p.m., Jimmy Paul, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston field office, said at a news conference.

“We just want to thank the person who had the courage and bravery to call in the suspect’s location,” Paul said.

Oropesa is accused of killing five people, including a 9-year-old boy, in Cleveland, Texas, on Friday night after a member of the family asked him to stop firing his rifle because an infant was trying to sleep, officials have said.

Oropesa will be charged with five counts of murder and is being held on $5 million bond, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said.

Capers called Oropesa a coward.

"He was caught hiding in a closet underneath some laundry," he said Tuesday.

Details about the home where Oropesa was found weren't disclosed. Officials said the case was still under investigation.

Footage appearing to capture the moments during and after the suspect’s arrest showed a man being led away from a residence in handcuffs and later sitting in the passenger side of a vehicle.

The arrest brought an end to the sprawling search, which involved more than 250 law enforcement officers, the FBI and a reward of $80,000 for information.

Oropesa was arrested four days after he went to his neighbor's home in the Trails End area of Cleveland, about 45 miles north of Houston, and opened fire, the sheriff's office said.

Oropesa started shooting after a person complained that gunfire coming from his adjacent property was keeping an infant from sleeping, officials have said.

Wilson Garcia's wife asked him to go to Oropesa’s residence and ask whether he would stop shooting or shoot somewhere else. The request didn’t seem unreasonable, Garcia said, as they’d been on good terms with Oropesa.

“So we went and told the man to please stop shooting or go continue shooting further away from the house. But he answered by saying he was in his property and could do whatever he wants,” Garcia said.

“I said: ‘OK that’s fine. It’s your property, but could you please move further away or turn it down, that’s all?'" Garcia said. "Then he began insulting us, and we told him we were calling the cops."

The man who lost his wife and 9-year-old son in a Texas mass shooting called 911 five times before at-large fugitive Francisco Oropesa allegedly stormed his house and shot five people to death.

The victims, all believed to be from Honduras, have been identified as: Daniel Enrique Laso, 9; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18.

Garcia has identified Daniel as his son and Guzman as his wife and the child's mother.

The wife of the Texas man who authorities say fatally shot five of his neighbors Friday with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle filed a protective order against him in 2022 alleging he beat her, a local prosecutor confirmed Tuesday.

San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon said Francisco Oropesa, 38, who had managed to evade authorities until he was arrested Tuesday, allegedly attacked his wife on June 14.

She called the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office to report Oropesa was drunk and had physically assaulted her, Dillon said.

GODREKR · #2 ● 05-03-2023, 05:48 PM

The man who lost his wife and 9-year-old son in a Texas mass shooting called 911 five times before at-large fugitive Francisco Oropesa allegedly stormed his house and shot five people to death.

The police have almost as much blame for this as the killer. 5 times? Ridiculous. And this tough guy shoots 5 people including a kid and goes and hides under some laundry in a closet. Fucking coward.

The arrest of Francisco Oropesa, 38, in the city of Cut and Shoot, Texas

That sounds like just the right place to get arrested for what he did. They should have cut and shot him.