The perpetrator of the shooting has been identified as 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza and a reward of up to $5 million is being offered.
Local authorities in Texas said that the perpetrator of the shooting that killed five Honduran nationals, including an 8-year-old boy, “could be anywhere,” so the search perimeter has been expanded.
“Now he could be anywhere,” said San Jacinto County (Texas) Sheriff Greg Capers, who has led the response to the tragic event, at a press conference.
Initially, authorities thought they had the suspect cornered in a wooded area not far from where the shooting occurred, but after an intense search, they found the phone they had been tracking him with abandoned, as well as several items of clothing he had discarded.
Capers explained that Texas Bureau of Prisons dogs tracked the suspect for some time, but lost the scent when they reached a river.
The perpetrator of the shooting has been identified as Francisco Oropeza, 38, a Mexican national. Local authorities in Texas have offered a reward of up to $5 million to anyone with information leading to his arrest.
Several federal government agencies, including the FBI, are assisting in the investigation of the shooting, which occurred in the town of Cleveland, in San Jacinto County and about 80 kilometers from Houston.
“Armed and dangerous.”
At the same press conference, the agent in charge of the Houston FBI office, James Smith, warned that the perpetrator of the shooting is considered “armed and dangerous” and called on neighbors to take precautions and be alert so that they can alert authorities if they see him.
However, he asked neighbors not to “take the law into their own hands” and to alert the police if they see him.
Capers explained that the perpetrator of the shooting may be armed, but indicated that the AR-15 assault rifle with which he perpetrated the shooting is in the hands of the authorities.
The suspect was known in the neighborhood because he liked to shoot in his backyard with an AR-15 rifle and police had already had to intervene on a couple of occasions, Capers said.
On Friday night, the perpetrator of the shooting was in the backyard of his home shooting with his AR-15 rifle when one of his neighbors approached him and asked him to stop shooting because it was too late and a baby was trying to sleep.
The suspect responded by bursting into his neighbors’ home to shoot them in the neck and head, as if it were an “execution,” Capers described at another press conference early Saturday.
Joe Biden is already aware of the case
U.S. President Joe Biden was informed of the shooting, a senior U.S. official told EFE, without providing details on whether the government has contacted the Honduran government.
After learning of the incident, Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina demanded that the culprit be punished with “the full weight of the law”.
According to Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a non-profit project that tracks gun violence in the United States, 176 mass shootings have been recorded so far in 2023.
GVA defines a mass shooting as one that results in four victims, whether killed or wounded, not including the perpetrator if he or she is killed or injured during the event.