Police in Texas have captured the man accused of fatally shooting five people — including a 9-year-old boy — Tuesday after he was on the run for four days.
via NYP:
Alleged gunman Francisco Oropesa, 38, was arrested in the Lone Star State Tuesday, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department.
He was taken into custody around 7 p.m. without incident, authorities said.
He’s been charged with first-degree murder and hauled off to Montgomery County Jail, according to an NBC News report. San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon told the outlet the suspect was caught in the city of Cut and Shoot, Texas.
Oropesa’s arrest Tuesday ends a frenzied manhunt that included more than 250 officers from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
Oropesa is accused of gunning down five neighbors after he was asked to stop firing shots in his yard in the Cleveland, Texas neighborhood, authorities have said.
The suspect refused to comply, and after the family called 911 five times, the allegedly drunk man walked up to their home armed with an AR-15 style rifle.
Survivor and grieving father Wilson Garcia said his wife confronted Oropesa, believing he wouldn’t shoot a woman. Sonia Guzman, 25, however, was the first to die, followed by her son, Daniel Enrique Laso, 9, who rushed to try to help her.
Along with the mother and son, police identified the other victims as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21, Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18.
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers noted that Alvarado and Rivera had used their bodies to protect their three children, who were found uninjured but covered in blood inside the home.
He added that all five victims were shot from the neck up, “execution-style,” before Oropesa fled the scene.
The search was slightly hindered at the start when the FBI initially released the wrong photo of the suspect, causing the misidentified man, whose name was similar to the suspect, to go into hiding over fears that he would be targeted.
Authorities admitted on Sunday that they had “zero leads” on Oropesa’s whereabouts and that he could be anywhere.
Officials then received a tip on Monday about a possible sighting in Montgomery County, leading to a lockdown in the Conroe area. The tip, however, did not lead to any results.
There was a combined $80,000 reward from Texas and the FBI for any critical information on Oropesa’s whereabouts. It was not immediately known if someone has claimed the reward.
We’re surprised they managed to capture him alive.
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