Gunman kills 5 neighbours who complained about shooting noise, Texas police say

A Texas man went next door with a rifle and fatally shot five of his neighbours, including an eight-year-old boy, after they asked him to stop firing rounds in his yard because they were trying to sleep, authorities said Saturday.

The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, remained at large more than 18 hours after the shooting that began just before midnight on Friday near the small city of Cleveland, about 72 kilometres north of Houston. Some residents who live on the street said it was not uncommon to hear neighbours unwind at the end of the work week by firing off guns.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said the suspect used an AR-style rifle, and as the search for him dragged into Saturday evening, authorities said they had widened their efforts to as much as 16 to 32 kilometres from the murder scene. Capers said the suspect may still have a weapon but that he believes authorities have the rifle used in the shooting.

Capers said they found clothes and a phone while combing a rural area that includes dense layers of forest but that tracking dogs had lost the scent.

"He could be anywhere now," Capers said.

Capers said the victims were between the ages of eight and 31 years old and that all were believed to be from Honduras.

FBI spokesperson Christina Garza said investigators do not believe everyone at the home were members of a single family.

The victims were identified as:

• Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25.
• Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21.
• Julisa Molina Rivera, 31.
• Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18.
• Daniel Enrique Laso, 8.

Recreational shooting 'a normal thing'

The confrontation began after family members walked up to the fence and asked the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said. The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, the sheriff said, and one person in the house got a video of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle.

Rene Arevalo Sr., who lives a few houses down, said he heard gunshots around midnight but didn't think anything of it.

"It's a normal thing people do around here, especially on Fridays after work," Arevalo said. "They get home and start drinking in their backyards and shooting out there."

Capers said his deputies had been to the suspect's home at least once before and spoken with him about "shooting his gun in the yard." It was not immediately clear whether any action was taken at the time.

The new arrivals in the home had moved from Houston earlier in the week, the sheriff said, but he did not know whether they were planning to stay there.

Record pace of U.S. gun violence

The attack was the latest act of gun violence in what has been a record pace of mass shootings in the United States so far this year, some of which have also involved semiautomatic rifles.

The mass killings have played out in a variety of places — a Nashville school, a Kentucky bank, a Southern California dance hall and now a rural Texas neighbourhood inside a single-storey home.

WATCH | Attack started as a noise complaint: 

Manhunt underway after Texas mass shooting

2 years ago

Duration 2:01

U.S. authorities are searching for a man in east Texas suspected of killing five of his neighbours Friday night, including an eight-year-old boy. Police believe the suspect killed them after he was asked to stop firing his AR-15 style rifle in his yard because a baby was sleeping.

Across the U.S. since Jan. 1, there have been at least 18 shootings that left four or more people dead, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today, in partnership with Northeastern University. The violence is sparked by a range of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang retaliation; school shootings; and workplace vendettas.

Texas has confronted multiple mass shootings in recent years, including last year's attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019; and a gunman opening fire at a church in the tiny town of Sutherland Springs in 2017.

Republican leaders in Texas have continually rejected calls for new firearm restrictions, including this year over the protests of several families whose children were killed in Uvalde.

WATCH | U.S. gun manufacturers in hot seat after shootings: 

Gun manufacturers in the hot seat following massacres in Uvalde, Buffalo

2 years ago

Duration 2:03

U.S. gun manufacturing executives are facing tough questions in Washington following mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas.