A gunman shot dead five neighbours including an 8-year old child after neighbours asked the man to stop shooting an AR-15-style weapon in his front yard in Cleveland, Texas, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said on Saturday.
Police were still looking for the suspect, who used an AR-15-style rifle in the shooting late on Friday, Capers told Reuters.
Authorities have charged Francisco Oropeza, 38, with five counts of murder and were searching for him Saturday morning, Capers said.
“He is on the run in the Sam Houston National Forest over here in San Jacinto County. We are tracking him with dogs and men on horseback and drones in the air,” said Capers.
Officials from Capers’ office received a call about harassment from Cleveland at around 11:31 p.m. local time but when they reached the scene they found several victims who had been shot, he said.
There were a total of ten people in the house when the gunman got in and started shooting, said Capers, five of whom survived.
Police said the victims were all from Honduras but officials did not disclose their names, ABC news reported earlier.
The suspect stepped out of his house on Friday night and started shooting in his yard which is when some of the victims stepped out to confront him, Capers said.
“The man walked over to the fence, said ‘hey, we’re trying to keep the baby asleep in here'” he said.
Both parties then went back to their houses, said Caper, where the shooter “topped off his magazine, and walked down his driveway” onto the street then “into the people’s house and started shooting.”
The San Jacinto sheriff said the victims were killed with shots to the head.
