Manhunt continues for illegal foreign national who killed five | Texas

(The Center Square) – More than 250 federal, state and local law enforcement officials are engaged in a manhunt for a Mexican man who’d been deported five times and is now wanted for multiple homicides.

He is believed to be armed and dangerous and remains at large.

The fugitive killed five Hondurans in Cleveland, Texas, on Friday night “nearly execution style,” San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said.

Monday afternoon, in nearby Montgomery County, the Sheriff’s Office issued an alert stating it had received information that a male possibly matching the description of the suspect was seen in the area of Highway 105 East near the Security Landfill Road.

The sheriff’s office posted a warning on its Facebook page stating, “Out of an abundance of caution, multiple local, state and federal agencies are assisting in the search. Please avoid the area and remain indoors.”

Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough also warned residents, “if you see something, please contact law enforcement.”

Both the suspect, Francisco Oropesa, a 38-year-old Mexican national, and members of the Honduran family were in the U.S. illegally and living in Cleveland, Texas. Oropesa had been deported five times, an anonymous ICE official told Fox News Digital.

Capers posted information about the shooting and ongoing updates on the sheriff’s office’s Facebook page. On Friday night, his deputies responded to a harassment complaint about 11 p.m. in the Trails End Area of Cleveland. While en route, numerous 911 calls were made about an active shooter at that location.

Oropesa was identified by a Ring doorbell camera in the victims’ home. One of the family members had asked Oropesa to stop shooting his rifle in his yard on Friday night. In response, he shot and killed five of 10 residents inside.

When the deputies arrived, Oropesa was gone. Four of the residents were pronounced dead at the scene. Two of the victims were women whose bodies were found lying on top of two surviving children, Capers told KTRK News.

“In my opinion, they were actually trying to take care of the babies and keep them alive,” he said, adding that all of the victims had been shot “from the neck up, almost execution style, basically in the head.”

Five individuals at the scene were evaluated by paramedics and local hospital staff and found to be physically uninjured. One of the children at the scene was still alive and flown to a local hospital but later died. The victims were between the ages of 8 and 31 years old.

One of the neighbors, Veronica Pineda, told KTRK News that gunfire in the neighborhood is a regular occurrence. “It’s normal, in this neighborhood they’re always shooting. They’re always calling the cops and there’s nothing done for that,” she said. “So yesterday I heard the shooting but I thought it was, like, a normal day. I never thought this was happening.”

Texas Department of Corrections tracking dogs initially picked up Oropesa’s scent but later lost it, the sheriff said at a news conference on Saturday. “Oropeza is considered armed and dangerous, do not approach or attempt to apprehend,” he said.

The county judge issued a warrant for Oropesa on five counts of murder and set his bond at $5 million.

However, Oropesa is believed to have already fled the country, the sheriff said, posting a warning on Facebook. Law enforcement officials told The Center Square that he probably used the same route and network he used to enter the country illegally to escape. Also, his firearm was likely purchased illegally or stolen because individuals who are in the U.S. illegally are prohibited from legally purchasing firearms.

By Sunday evening, Gov. Greg Abbott announced a $50,000 reward for a Texas Department of Public Safety “top 10 fugitive who is in the country illegally and killed five illegal immigrants in a shooting Friday night in Cleveland, Texas.”

He also said he’d directed Operation Lone Star law enforcement officials “to be on the lookout for the criminal and any attempts to flee the country.”

By Monday morning, the FBI Houston office announced there are “over 250 law enforcement officers from over a dozen agencies actively searching for the perpetrator.”

It also said there was now “a combined reward of up to $80,000 for information leading up to the arrest of Francisco Oropesa.”

This is the second manhunt in less than a year in Texas. On May 12, 2022, one of the largest manhunts in state history began after an escaped convict with ties to Mexican cartels evaded law enforcement in Leon County, roughly 115 miles north of Houston. After nine days and 800 personnel searching for him, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice admitted the convict was likely no longer in the area and expanded its search statewide.

Their efforts failed to prevent the convict from killing a Houston-area family at their weekend residence in Leon County. The convict stole the victim’s truck, fled the area and was eventually found one month later in Atascosa County. He was shot dead by Jourdanton officers after engaging in a shootout.

Anyone with information about Oropesa is encouraged to call local law enforcement, Sheriff Capers’ office at 936-653-4367 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (press option 1).