![]() Verónica Pineda, 34, who lives across the street from Oropeza’s home, said authorities asked if they could search her property to see if he might be hiding there. “We’re looking for closure for this family,” he said. Police have also interviewed Oropeza’s wife multiple times.įBI 'running into dead ends' in search for Texas mass shooting suspect – videoĬapers said he hoped the reward money would motivate people to provide information, and there were plans to put up billboards in Spanish to spread the word. State and federal authorities helped Capers’ deputies search for Oropeza.Īuthorities identified Oropeza based on an identity card issued by Mexican authorities to citizens who reside outside the country as well as doorbell camera footage. García said Oropeza seemed intent on killing everyone.ĭuring the early hours of the ensuing manhunt, investigators found clothes and a phone while combing an area that includes dense layers of forest, but tracking dogs lost the scent of him, Capers told reporters. García recalled Sonia telling him to get inside while saying: “He won’t fire at me – I’m a woman.” She was at the front door and was the first to die once Oropeza began firing, according to García. “Get inside,” García recalled telling his wife, Sonia. García recalled seeing his neighbor reload his weapon and run toward him. Not long after Oropeza’s refusal, García could see him approaching his front yard, but did not know what he was doing. Just three deputies patrol 700 sq miles in the area. Later, when asked about response time to those calls, Capers told reporters that deputies got there as fast as they could. Each time, the dispatcher assured him help was on the way. García recounted the final moments on Sunday after a memorial for his son.Īfter Oropeza refused to stop firing in his yard, García and his family called the police five times. “I can tell you right now, we have zero leads,” James Smith of the FBI told reporters. Local officials and the FBI also chipped in to the reward for information about Oropeza’s whereabouts, bringing the total to $80,000. “He was in my county, five people died in my county, and that is where my heart is – in my county, protecting my people to the best of our ability.” “My heart is with this … boy,” Capers said. Remarks – largely coming from the political US right – about the immigration status of the victims and Oropeza, a Mexican who had reportedly previously been deported from the US, prompted the local San Jacinto county sheriff, Greg Capers, to say that was irrelevant to investigators. Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, put up $50,000 in reward money while making sure to describe the dead as “illegal immigrants”. Officials recovered an AR-15 style rifle he allegedly used in the shooting, though they were unsure if Oropeza was carrying another weapon after others were found in his home. Oropeza, who fled the scene and is considered armed and dangerous, remained at large as of Monday morning, with police frantically searching for him. Two women died shielding García’s infant and two-year-old daughter from Oropeza’s gunfire. Oropeza would soon storm on to Garcia’s property, fire as many as 15 rounds, and kill five people, including Garcia’s wife – Sonia Argentina Guzmán – his nine-year-old son Daniel Enrique Laso, and three others – Diana Velázquez Alvarado, 21 Julisa Molina Rivera, 31 and José Jonathan Casarez, 18. ![]() That simple request sparked just the latest mass killing in the United States, the 17th this year with four or more victims, according to the Gun Violence Archive resource, and on pace for a record.
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