Texas manhunt suspect caught hiding in closet under laundry

CLEVELAND, Texas (NewsNation) — Francisco Oropesa, the man at the center of an urgent manhunt who is accused of killing five people, has been captured, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in Texas confirmed.

Oropesa was taken into custody Tuesday night in Montgomery County without incident. Investigators reported finding Oropesa in a closet underneath some laundry.

The FBI said they received a “one-time random tip” from someone with “courage and bravery” on Oropesa’s whereabouts at 5:15 p.m. U.S. Marshals, Texas DPS and Border Patrol’s BORTAC team responded to the home and arrested Oropesa at 6:30 p.m.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers announced that Oropesa, who he called a “coward,” has been charged with five counts of murder and will be held in San Jacinto County on a $5 million bond. Capers says Oropesa is uninjured.

Oropesa, 38, fled Cleveland, Texas, after allegedly shooting and killing five of his neighbors, including a 9-year-old boy, Friday evening after one of his neighbors asked him to stop firing off his gun in his yard.

The victims were between the ages of 9 and 31 years old and all were believed to be from Honduras. All were shot “from the neck up,” San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said.

The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9.

Capers said there were 10 people in the house — some of whom had just moved there earlier in the week — but that no one else was injured. He said two of the victims were found in a bedroom laying over two children in an apparent attempt to shield them.

A total of three children found covered in blood in the home were taken to a hospital but found to be uninjured, Capers said.

Tuesday evening, Capers shared a message with surviving loved ones of the victims: “They can rest easy now because he is behind bars and he will live out his life behind bars.”

The deadly shooting sparked a manhunt that included more than 200 law enforcement officers from multiple jurisdictions. The FBI received tips from across the country in states like Wyoming, Florida and Maryland.

“This is basically what we do. We show up, we bring the adequate resources and we don’t let up,” FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul said Tuesday. “We’ve always said it’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when the suspect’s going to be caught. We’re extremely glad that today was the when.”

Neighbors of the victims recently said the kind of reckless behavior like the shooting happens all the time and they don’t feel safe.

“You’ll hear full automatics all day long. It’s nothing new,” neighbor Dale Tiller said. “You would think in a small rural country town, ‘How could it be like that?’ It’s 100% like that.”

The Associated Press reported that one of the survivors called 911 at least five times to try to get law enforcement officers to the scene to stop Oropesa from shooting around before he even allegedly turned the gun on his neighbors. Law enforcement officers would not comment on the shooting response at a news conference Tuesday evening.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed to NewsNation that Oropesa, a Mexican native, has been deported four different times between 2009 and 2016. However, Oropesa has had no other encounters with law enforcement since his previous deportation in 2016.

“We actually filed charges on him in 2022. To the best of my knowledge, we got a warrant for him and the constable went to serve him in another county because he left here and never could make contact with the subject. Then a few days later, the victim went to the district attorney’s office in our county and filed a nonprosecution statement,” Capers said Tuesday.

Questions were raised about how someone like Oropesa, who has had multiple deportations and a criminal history, could have access to violent weapons like guns.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said both Oropesa and the victims were living in the country illegally. The governor has also directed law enforcement along the border to be on the lookout in case Oropesa tries to flee the country.

However, the Republican governor faced backlash over drawing attention to the victims’ immigration status.

The state of Texas was offering a $50,000 reward for the apprehension of the suspect. Sheriff Capers said the reward money will be going to the person who called in the tip that led to the capture of Oropesa.