Authorities say the Texas man who allegedly killed five people in a shooting Friday night “could be anywhere” and is a dangerous threat to the community. They’re now offering $80,000 in total reward money.
“We do not know where he is,” said the FBI’s special agent in charge James Smith on Sunday.
Law enforcement went door-to-door on Sunday looking for clues about Francisco Oropesa, who reportedly shot his neighbors in their home after they asked him to stop shooting in his yard. One of the victims was an eight-year-old boy.
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The ongoing search began after Oropesa fled the scene of the attack Friday night. So far, investigators recovered the AR-15 style rifle that was allegedly used in the shootings, as well as clothes and a phone in a nearby wooded area. After having him “cornered” in woods, the tracking dogs lost their scent and the authorities Saturday night widened their search to as far as 20 miles from the shooting.
“He could be anywhere now,” San Jacinto County Shriff Greg Capers said Saturday.
Capers said the house had 10 people in it at the time of the shooting, and that the five slain victims ranged in age between 8 and 31 years old. All were shot “from the neck up.” Two victims found in a bedroom shielding two children that were beneath them. Three other children were found covered in blood inside the house, but were uninjured.
On Sunday, officers from the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety and other local agencies walked up and down the neighborhood near Cleveland, Texas, searching for anything that could lead them to Oropesa.
Veronica Pineda, 34, spoke to reporters as officers asked to search her property to see if Oropesa was hiding there.
“It is kind of scary,” she said. “You never know where he can be. I don’t think he will be here anymore.”
Pineda said she didn't know Oropesa well, but saw him occasionally ride horses on the street with his wife and son. She said police have been called in the past on residents firing guns in their yard, which is reportedly commonplace in the neighborhood.
Oropesa was one of those residents. The 38-year-old was reportedly drinking and firing off shots in his front yard when some of the victims came up to him and asked him to stop.
“The victims, they came over to the fence said, 'Hey, could you mind not shooting out in the yard. We have a young baby that is trying to go sleep,” Capers said.
Oropesa allegedly responded, “I’ll do what I want to in my front yard.”
Neighbors say they heard shooting take place around midnight. Some didn’t think anything of it since shooting was such a common activity in the neighborhood.
“It’s a normal thing people do around here, especially on Fridays after work,” said Rene Arevalo Sr., who lives a few houses down from the shooting. “They get home and start drinking in their backyards and shooting out there.”
A SWAT team was deployed on the neighborhood following Oropesa’s massacre, where it was determined that he had fled the scene and was at least 10 to 20 miles away by Saturday morning.
The search for Oropesa is ongoing.
“We consider him armed and dangerous,” Smith said Saturday. “He's out there, and he's a threat to the community.”
