Cleveland, Texas, shooting: Suspect arrested, found ‘hiding in a closet’

CLEVELAND, Texas — The man accused of fatally shooting five people in a small Texas town, including a 9-year-old boy, was apprehended on Tuesday, officials said.

>> Read more trending news

Francisco Oropesa, 38, was in custody after being on the run for four days, San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon said, according to KPRC-TV, KTRK-TV and the Houston Chronicle.

Update 10:11 p.m. May 2: At a news conference Tuesday night, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said that Francisco Oropesa was caught “hiding in a closet underneath some laundry” in Cut and Shoot, a town located in neighboring Montgomery County.

“The suspect is in custody,” Capers told reporters. “He has been magistrated and he will be taken to my jail, where his new residence will be.”

An FBI official said that the break in the case came through the agency’s tip line at about 5:15 p.m. CDT. Oropesa was arrested at 6:30 p.m.

“We just want to thank the person who had the courage and bravery to call in the suspect’s location,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul told reporters.

The tip led authorities to Oropesa at a relative’s home in Cut and Shoot, the Houston Chronicle reported. San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon said Oropesa’s wife was at the Cut and Shoot home when he was arrested, according to the newspaper.

Officials said that Oropesa will be held on a $5 million bond when he is transferred from the Montgomery County Jail to the San Jacinto County Jail. He will be charged with five counts of murder, Capers said.

No one else has been arrested, the sheriff said.

Original report: Authorities are awaiting fingerprints to confirm the identity of the man taken into custody, Dillon told KPRC. He added that the suspect was arrested in the town of Cut and Shoot in nearby Montgomery County.

Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said Oropesa is being held in Montgomery County Jail, the Chronicle reported. Oropesa was arrested without incident, Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson told The Associated Press.

Oropesa was arrested a few miles from the site of Friday night’s shooting, San Jacinto County Judge Fritz Faulkner told The New York Times.

“My emergency manager called me and said they caught him,” Faulkner told the newspaper.

Oropesa is accused of killing five of his neighbors in the town of Cleveland, including a 9-year-old boy, “execution style” with an AR-15 style rifle, authorities said.

The shooting happened after Oropesa’s neighbors asked him to stop firing off rounds in his yard because a baby was trying to sleep. The child’s mother and 9-year-old brother were among the five people killed, who were all originally from Honduras.

The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9.

Oropesa is a Mexican national who has been deported four times from the U.S., KTRK-TV reported.

An $80,000 reward had been originally offered for information leading to Oropesa’s arrest, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said during a Sunday news conference.

“Right now, we have zero leads,” James Smith, FBI Houston Special Agent in charge, told reporters on Sunday.

Check back for more on this developing story.

©2023 Cox Media Group