A man suspected of killing five of his neighbours in Texas has been arrested after police found him hiding in a cupboard underneath a pile of laundry.
Francisco Oropesa was detained north of Houston. He was several miles from his own home in the small town of Cleveland where the shootings happened on Friday.
Mr Oropesa is accused of attacking his neighbours after they allegedly asked him to stop practicing with his rifle as the noise was keeping a baby awake.
The victims included a nine-year-old.
They were all from Honduras, and the country’s foreign ministry identified them as Sonia Guzman, 28; Diana Velasquez, 21; Obdulia Molina, 31; Jonathan Caceres, 18, and Daniel Enrique Lazo, nine.
The arrest of Mr Oropesa, a 38-year-old Mexican national, brings to an end a four-day manhunt that swept up law enforcement officials across multiple jurisdictions, including the FBI. Drones and scent-tracking dogs were used as police searched an area as far south as the Mexican border.
Authorities offered a reward of $80,000 (£64,000) for information leading to his arrest and, only on Tuesday, the FBI said Mr Oropesa “could be anywhere” as the days-long search failed to yield any leads.
But a member of the public contacted the FBI’s tip line on Tuesday evening and the suspect was captured just over an hour later, officials said in a news conference.
Police have not said who owns the home he was arrested in, but the New York Times reported that property records show it belongs to a relative.
“They can rest easy now, because he is behind bars,” Sherriff Greg Capers said of the families of the victims. “He will live out his life behind bars for killing those five.”
The suspect was taken into custody by members of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, or Bortac, a specialised unit, Sheriff Capers, of San Jacinto County, said.
He will be charged with five counts of murder. The alleged attacker was deported four times between 2009 and 2016, US immigration officials said.
An investigation is under way into how the suspect obtained the weapon used in the killings, which was an AR-style rifle.
No other people are in custody as of Tuesday evening, police said, but those who were at the residence at the time of Mr Oropesa’s arrest are being questioned.
A makeshift memorial with floral tributes, balloons and soft toys has been placed outside the home where the shooting took place.
BBC
