Police Catch Man Who Killed Five Of His Neighbours After Four-Day Search

A guy who is believed to have killed five of his neighbours has been apprehended, according to authorities near Houston, Texas.

After being confronted by the family late at night about firing shots in his yard, a nine-year-old kid was among those who were tragically shot with an AR-style weapon.

According to Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson, 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza was taken into custody on Tuesday, four days after the shooting that occurred late on Friday in Cleveland, a hamlet that is located approximately 45 miles north of Houston.

Sheriff Henderson reported that Mr. Oropeza was peacefully taken into custody not far from the gunshot scene.

Authorities claimed that after acting on a tip, they discovered the suspect in the closet, concealed beneath a pile of laundry.

During the extensive hunt for Mr. Oropeza, which included scouring a densely forested forest a few miles away, police deployed drones and scent-tracking dogs.

Sheriff Greg Capers of San Jacinto County reported that Mr. Oropeza had left the scene following the assault, which also claimed the lives of four other people.

He claimed that at least one prior time, the suspect’s home had been visited by his officers due to bullets being fired in his yard.

There will be five counts of murder against Mr. Oropeza. His bail was set at five million US dollars (£4 million)

“They can rest easy now because he is behind bars,” Sheriff Capers said of the families of the victims. “He will live out his life behind bars for killing those five.”

The arrest near Conroe put a stop to a dragnet that had expanded to include more than 250 people from several jurisdictions and for which a prize of 80,000 dollars (£64,000) had been offered.

The FBI stated that Mr. Oropeza “could be anywhere” as recently as Tuesday morning, underscoring how agents had labored for days to determine his location and openly admitted they had no leads.

After receiving the tip that put an end to the pursuit at 5:15 pm, Mr. Oropeza was taken into custody a little over an hour later, according to FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul.

According to US immigration authorities, the alleged shooter is a Mexican national who was deported four times between 2009 and 2016.

Hondurans made up the whole victim population. Wilson Garcia, who survived the massacre, claimed that once Mr. Oropeza approached the house and started firing, murdering his wife at the front entrance first, friends and family in the house tried to cover and protect themselves and their children.

The fatalities were identified as Daniel Enrique Laso, nine; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18, Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21, Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25, and Molina Rivera, 31.