International Desk: A man shot and killed five members of a neighboring family in the United States. This incident happened due to a verbal dispute. Texas police reported this information. The victims were all from Honduras and included an eight-year-old child. News BBC.
Police believe they were arguing over the accused’s firing of a semi-automatic weapon.
The shooting happened Friday night in Cleveland, a small town in San Jacinto County north of Houston local time.
According to local police officer Greg Capers, two of the dead were women who were seen straddling the two surviving children.
“In my opinion, they were actually trying to protect the children and keep them alive,” police officer Capers told local media KTR.
He also said that all the victims were shot in the upper part of the neck; that is, the killer tried to shoot them in the head with the aim of killing them for sure.
The suspect, believed to be a Mexican national, has been identified as Francisco Oropez.
The 38-year-old man is still at large, and police believe he still has the weapon.
The suspect has been charged with five counts of murder.
The police are using dogs and a drone to search for him. He is believed to be hiding in a nearby forest.
The police office said they received a call about ‘harassment’ around 11.30 p.m. local time on Friday.
Investigators believe Oropez was practicing shooting at the time.
At that time, the victims asked him to stop the practice, saying that they were putting their children to sleep. Oropez is believed to have been drunk at the time.
According to police officer Capers, the man replied, “I’ll shoot in my front yard; do whatever I want in my own part of the house.”
After both parties returned to their homes, the gunman “unloaded his magazine, went down his driveway into people’s houses, and started shooting,” police official Capers said.
At that time, there were a total of 10 people in that house. The adults died on the spot. And an eight-year-old child died in the hospital.
The gunman is believed to have used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
Neighbor Veronica Pineda said that she heard gunshots, but that gunshots are a regular occurrence here, adding, “It’s quite normal, and they always hear gunshots in the neighborhood. They have called the police several times about it. But nothing has been done about it.”
“So yesterday I heard the gunshots all right, but I thought it was just any other normal day of shooting. I never thought anything like that could happen.”
A few days ago, nine people were injured in a shooting at a teenage party in West Texas.
Two weeks ago, four young men were shot and killed during a 16th birthday party in Alabama.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these types of firearm incidents are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States.
