The San Jacinto County Sheriff, about 72 miles northeast of the state capital, Houston, said the perimeter of the manhunt was expanded from 12 square miles to 50 square miles.
“Now he can be anywhere,” Greg Capers admitted at a press conference.
Initially, authorities believed they had cornered the suspect in a wooded area near the scene of the shooting. But after an intensive search, they found the mobile phone whose signal they had found, as well as several items of clothing.
Capers explained that police dogs followed the suspect for some time, but lost sight of him near a river.
The perpetrator of the shooting has been identified as Francisco Oropeza, 38 years old, of Mexican nationality. Texas authorities have offered a reward of up to $5 million (4.5 million euros) to anyone with information leading to his arrest. The FBI is also investigating the case.
The suspect was known in the area as he liked to fire guns in his front yard and the police had already been called several times to intervene, Greg Capers said.
On fridaynight, the man was shooting again when he was approached by a neighbor who asked him to stop as it was late and they were trying to put a baby to sleep.
The suspect responded by breaking into a neighbor’s home, where ten Honduran people lived, and killing five of them, including an 8-year-old child, as if it were an “execution,” Capers described.
Four people were pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting and the child died in hospital.
Two of the three women killed were in the home’s bedroom and their bodies lay on top of two of the three children who survived, in an apparent attempt to shield them from bullets, police said.
According to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a non-profit project that records gun violence in the United States, there have been 176 mass shootings since early 2023.
The GVA defines a mass shooting as a shooting that ends with four victims, dead or injured, not counting the perpetrator.
Texas has suffered several mass shootings in recent years, including last year’s attack on a school in Uvalde that killed 19 students and two teachers.
Texas Republican leaders have repeatedly rejected calls for new restrictions on the carrying and use of firearms, including this year during protests led by several families whose children have died in Uvalde.
Source: DN
