Guy eliminates 5 in Texas after household complained about gunfire

By PAUL J. WEBER and JUAN A. LOZANO

CLEVELAND, Texas-- A man went next door with a rifle and started shooting his next-door neighbors, killing an 8-year-old and 4 others inside a house near Houston, after the family asked him to stop firing rounds in his backyard due to the fact that they were trying to sleep, authorities stated Saturday.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said authorities were still searching for 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza following the shooting in the town of Cleveland, about 45 miles north of Houston. He stated Oropeza utilized an AR-style rifle in the attack, which occurred quickly prior to midnight Friday.

"All of his rounds were from the neck up, so essentially in the head," Capers told The Associated Press.

The attack was the most recent act of gun violence in what has been a record rate of mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year, some of which have also included semiautomatic rifles.

The mass killings have played out in a variety of locations-- a Nashville school, a Kentucky bank, a Southern California dance hall, and now a rural Texas community inside a single-story home.

By late Saturday morning, Capers said authorities were utilizing scent-tracking pet dogs and an overhead drone in the look for Oropeza, who they think was intoxicated at the time of the shooting and then got away toward a heavily wooded forest a few miles from the scene.

Capers said there were 10 individuals in your home-- some of whom has actually simply moved there earlier in the week-- but that no one else was injured. He stated 2 of the victims, all thought to be from Honduras, were found laying over two kids in a bedroom.

2 other victims, a male and female, were discovered by the front door and the killed child remained in the front space. Capers said three other "blood-covered" kids were discovered in the home and taken to a hospital, where they were determined to be uninjured.

"The Honduran women that were laying over these kids were doing it in such an effort regarding protect the kid," Capers stated.

The fight followed family members approaching the fence and asking the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said. The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, according to Capers, and that one person in your house got a video of the suspect approaching the front door with the rifle.

3 of the victims were ladies and one was a guy. Their names were not launched. Capers said the victims were between the ages of 8 and about 40 years old.

Capers stated his deputies had actually been to Oropeza's home a minimum of as soon as before and talked to him about "shooting his gun in the backyard." It was not immediately clear whether any action was taken at the time.

Capers stated the brand-new arrivals in the house had moved from Houston earlier in the week, but he did not know whether they were planning to remain there.

Across the U.S. since Jan. 1, there have been at least 18 shootings that left four or more people dead, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today, in collaboration with Northeastern University. The violence is stimulated by a series of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang retaliation; school shootings and work environment vendettas.

Texas has challenged several mass shootings over the last few years, consisting of in 2015's attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019; and a shooter opening fire at a church in the tiny town of Sutherland Springs in 2017.

Republican leaders in Texas have declined calls for new firearm constraints, including this year over the protests of numerous households whose kids were killed in Uvalde.

Weber reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press author Ken Miller contributed to this report.