Developing: Suspect in Texas mass shooting captured in manhunt

AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File

Francisco Oropesa, 38, the suspect in a mass shooting on Friday night, is believed to have been captured in a manhunt. Authorities are waiting for fingerprint identification. The man has been transferred to a local jail and faces charges of first-degree murder.

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Oropesa is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who has been deported four times. He shot and killed five neighbors, including an eight-year-old child, after one of the adults living in the house asked him to stop shooting his gun in his backyard because a baby was trying to sleep. This was at 11:30 p.m. and Oropesa was intoxicated.

Oropesa walked into his neighbor’s house and began shooting. He shot his victims execution-style. He fled and a manhunt began searching for him. Rewards were offered by the FBI and by Governor Abbott for any information leading up to his capture and arrest. He was identified with the help of a doorbell camera and a Mexican consulate card.

He was arrested in the small town of Cut and Shoot just a few miles from where he committed the mass murder in Cleveland, Texas, about 50 miles outside of Houston, according to San Jacinto district attorney Todd Dillon.

The suspect, Francisco Oropesa, 38, an immigrant from Mexico who had been deported four times, was apprehended just a few miles from the site of the Friday night shooting, which took place in a wooded residential development in San Jacinto County, about 50 miles from downtown Houston, said County Judge Fritz Faulkner.

“My emergency manager called me and said they caught him,” Mr. Faulkner said in a brief phone interview on Tuesday. He said that the arrest had taken place in a neighboring county.

The reward offered was increased on Tuesday and the arrest came shortly after that.

The arrest came shortly after officials announced an increased reward for information that led to Francisco Orpoesa’s arrest. The U.S. Marshals added $20,000 on Tuesday after the FBI offered $25,000, multi-county Crime Stoppers offered $5,000, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott added $50,000 for a combined $100,000 reward.

According to the San Jacinto County DA’s Office, Oropesa was captured in Cut and Shoot, Texas, a city in Montgomery County, about 11 miles from the crime scene

Officials say Oropesa was apprehended by the U.S. Marshals, Texas DPS, and the U.S. Border Patrol at about 7 p.m.

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The story is developing as I write this. I’ll update when new information becomes available.

UPDATE
A sheriff’s deputy updated the press on the arrest Wednesday morning. He said that several arrests were made and could not specifically say if one of those arrested is Oropesa’s wife. Oropesa will be charged with murder. The deputy could not say if Oropesa confessed to the murders. :

UPDATE:

An AP reporter tweets that the sheriff confirmed that Oropesa’s wife was arrested.

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Beege Welborn 5:00 PM | December 24, 2024
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