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A Texas man fatally shot 5 neighbors after he was asked to stop firing in his yard
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Updated April 29, 2023 at 7:41 PM ET
A man shot and killed five of his neighbors, including an 8-year-old child, inside a home in southeast Texas early Saturday morning, authorities said, after one of the neighbors asked him to stop firing rounds in his yard because of the noise.
At least three other people were injured.
The suspect, 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, fled the scene and is not in custody. The San Jacinto County Sheriff's Office said on Saturday evening that it believes he is no longer in the county and asked for the public's help in locating him.
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers had earlier told NPR that the suspect was located and surrounded.
Capers said the suspect lived next door to the victims, in the city of Cleveland, which is less than an hour northeast of Houston. The attack unfolded after one of the people living inside the victims' home asked the suspect to stop firing rounds in his yard because they had an infant trying to sleep.
The suspect responded that it was his property and later walked up to his neighbor's front door with a rifle, Capers told the Associated Press.
Four people — three women and a man — were found dead inside the house, he said. The 8-year-old boy was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Capers said all five people killed had gunshot wounds to the head, adding that the shooter used an AR-15 style rifle.
Three others, who were injured, were taken to a hospital. Two additional people, who were inside the residence, were evaluated on scene and have since been released, the sheriff's office said in a statement.
The sheriff 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," the AP reported.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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