The man accused of killing five neighbors in a rural Texas home was arrested Tuesday after a four-day search.
Francisco Oropeza, 38, was found in the city of Cut and Shoot, Tex. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said Oropeza was taken into custody after authorities received a tip about his location. He was charged with five counts of murder and jailed on a $5 million bond, reports USA Today. "He was caught hiding in a closet underneath some laundry," Capers said. FBI agent Jimmy Paul said the tip was received through the FBI's tip line at 5:15 p.m. and the arrest was made at 6:30 p.m. Capers said, "He is behind bars and he will live out his life behind bars for killing those five." Divimara Lamar Nava, 53, Oropeza's wife, was arrested Wednesday for hindering the four-day manhunt, the Associated Press reports.
Authorities said Oropeza was firing rounds in his backyard in Cleveland, 45 miles outside Houston, just before midnight Friday, when a neighbor asked him to shoot farther away because a baby was trying to sleep. Wilson Garcia, the father of the 1-month-old baby, called police after Oropeza refused. Garcia said Oropeza came up to their house and started firing an AR-15 rifle. Garcia’s wife, Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25, was at the door and was the first person killed. Garcia's 9-year-old son, Daniel Enrique Laso, was killed in a front room. Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21, Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18, were also killed. Authorities said two women died while using their bodies to shield Garcia’s baby and 2-year-old daughter, who survived. "Everybody that was shot was shot from the neck up, almost execution style,'' Capers said. Authorities used doorbell camera footage and an identity card to identify Oropeza.
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