Manhunt for gunman who shot dead five neighbours in Texas enters its fourth day
The search for a suspected gunman has entered its fourth day after five neighbours were shot dead in Texas – as a grieving father has recalled the moment his wife and young son were killed.
Francisco Oropesa, who is considered to be armed and dangerous, is believed to have fled the rural town of Cleveland on foot after the shooting on Friday night.
Neighbours have said the Mexican national had lived on the street where the shooting took place for years.
The attacks took place after the 38-year-old’s neighbours asked him to stop firing off rounds in his garden late at night because a baby was trying to sleep.
The gunman’s victims were all from Honduras and have been identified as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9.
More than 250 law enforcement officers from multiple agencies, including the US Marshals, are now part of a growing search.
Oropesa has not been found despite scent-tracking dogs, drones and a total of $80,000 (£64,000) in reward money on offer.
An FBI agent on the scene near Houston has acknowledged the bureau has little to go on in the widening manhunt.
On Monday, a heavy police presence converged in Montgomery County after a possible sighting, but the sheriff’s office later said none of the people located were Oropesa.
A few hours later, the department reported another possible sighting, tweeting that several schools had “secured their campuses” and again asked residents to avoid the area.
But that search, too, turned up nothing.
The victims clockwise from top left: Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25, and her son Daniel Enrique Laso, 9; and Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21. Pic: GoFundMe
Both were among the first times since the shooting on Friday night that authorities had announced a possible sighting.
Wilson Garcia, the father of the one-month-old who had been crying before the shooting, has described the terrifying moments his wife Sonia Argentina Guzman and nine-year-old son Daniel Enrique Laso were gunned down.
He said he and the three other men went to Oropesa’s home and “respectfully” asked him to curtail or move his target practice.
“He answered by saying he was in his property and could do whatever he wants,” Mr Garcia said.
“Then he began insulting us… My wife said, ‘OK, let’s call the cops.’ Police took, like, 20 minutes to arrive, and we called five times because the man was very threatening,” he added.
It wasn’t clear whether all five of the 911 calls came before, during or after the shooting.
After refusing to stop firing, Mr Garcia said he could see Oropesa on his porch “smoking and drinking something” before “we saw him as he went inside his home to load the gun”.
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Authorities have warned Francisco Oropesa might still be armed
Mr Garcia said he urged his wife to take cover inside as the gunman approached their house but she stood her ground.
He said: “He just walked in shooting. He didn’t say anything. He shot her, and the door was wide open. He walks in, room by room, shooting at us.”
Daniel ran to his fatally-wounded mother but was also gunned down, Mr Garcia said.
Police have recovered an AR-15-style rifle that they said Oropesa used in the shootings.
Authorities were not sure if he was carrying another weapon after others were found in his home.
Meanwhile, Republican Governor Greg Abbott has faced a backlash over drawing attention to the victims’ immigration status.
Mr Abbott offered a $50,000 (£40,000) reward over the weekend for any tips that might lead to the gunman being caught.
While doing so, he described all the victims as “illegal immigrants” – a potentially false statement that his office has now apologised for.
A number of European leaders have hit out at the terms of the United States and European Union trade deal.
Speaking after talks in Turnberry, Mr Trump told reporters it was the “biggest deal ever made” and will be “great for cars” as well as having a “big impact” on agriculture.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the “big deal” would help bring “stability” to trade after months of turmoil over the threat of a trade war.
The US will impose 15% tariffs on most EU goods entering America, after Mr Trump had threatened a 30% levy.
But French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said of the terms: “It is a sombre day when an alliance of free peoples, brought together to affirm their common values and to defend their common interests, resigns itself to submission.”
Long-time EU critic, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, responded: “This is not an agreement … Donald Trump ate von der Leyen for breakfast, this is what happened and we suspected this would happen as the U.S. president is a heavyweight when it comes to negotiations while Madame President is featherweight.”
President Donald Trump shakes hands with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry. Pic: Reuters
Others welcomed news of an agreement but seemed resigned to the terms.
The deal includes $600bn (£446bn) of EU investments in the US, and the bloc will buy $750bn (£558bn) of US energy and also purchase American military equipment.
Mr Trump said: “I think it’s great that we made a deal today instead of playing games and maybe not making a deal at all.”
He said: “We are agreeing that the tariff… for automobiles and everything else will be a straight across tariff of 15%.” However, the 15% baseline rate would not apply to steel and aluminium, for which a 50% tariff would stay in place.
Ms Von der Leyen said: “We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world and it’s a big deal, it’s a huge deal. It will bring stability, it will bring predictability, that’s very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.”
She said the agreement would include 15% tariffs “across the board”, and it would help rebalance trade between the two large trading partners.
She said the levy rate was the “best we could get” regarding the car sector.
But she added that there was “no decision” on the spirits sector, which was one of those areas where the details in the framework trade deal would have to be examined in the coming weeks.
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Mr Trump had earlier said the main sticking point was “fairness”, citing barriers to US exports of cars and agriculture.
He went into the talks demanding fairer trade with the 27-member bloc and threatening steep tariffs to achieve that, while insisting the US will not go below 15% import taxes.
For months, Mr Trump has threatened most of the world with large tariffs in the hope of shrinking major US trade deficits with many key trading partners, including the EU.
In case there was no deal and the US had imposed 30% tariffs from 1 August, the EU has prepared counter-tariffs on €93bn (£81bn) of US goods.
Ahead of their meeting on Sunday, Ms Von der Leyen described Mr Trump as a “tough negotiator and dealmaker”.
The deal mirrors parts of the framework agreement the US clinched with Japan last week.
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