SAN JACINTO COUNTY, Texas — Authorities have made several more arrests since apprehending the man accused of shooting five people, including a 9-year-old boy, dead at a neighbor’s home on Friday night.
San Jacinto County Chief Deputy Tim Kean confirmed at a news conference Wednesday morning that there have been “several arrests,” but he declined to elaborate beyond saying that more than one and less than five arrests had been made.
“(I’m) not going to go into that right now because others are hinging on what’s going on right now,” he said. “So, it’s in progress.”
Records from Montgomery County Jail show authorities arrested Divimara Lamar Nava, 52, on one count of hindering the apprehension or prosecution of a known felon. Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson identified her to the Associated Press as Francisco Oropesa’s wife, though she was listed as being unmarried in jail records. She and Oropesa share a home address, the AP reported.
Authorities launched a manhunt for Oropesa, 38, on Friday after deputies said he shot and killed Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25, Diana Velazquez, 21, Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18, and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9, at his neighbor’s home in Cleveland.
Guzman’s husband and Daniel’s father, Wilson Garcia, told CNN that before the killings, he and two other men had walked over to his neighbor’s yard to ask that Oropesa stop shooting so close to their home because their month-old baby was sleeping. Oropesa refused and Garcia said he would call the police.
They called authorities five times in the ensuing minutes, he said. Before police could arrive, Oropesa opened fire at Garcia’s home and then fled.
Kean said Wednesday that authorities responded to the reported shooting as quickly as they could with their limited resources.
“To go from here to there, lights and siren, we’re talking at least 30 minutes,” he said from outside the county jail. “This is not a rich county, alright? We’ve got three deputies on patrol to cover this entire county.”
He added that a deputy left a call for an aggravated robbery and arrived on the scene in Cleveland in less than 15 minutes.
In the days after the killings, hundreds of law enforcement officials from dozens of agencies searched for Oropesa. He was caught Tuesday after authorities got a tip and found him “hiding in a closet underneath some laundry” at a home in Cut and Shoot, Sheriff Greg Capers said.
Kean declined to say Wednesday how the house was connected with Oropesa, though he said officials found no indications that he planned to leave the area soon.
“I believe he thought he was in a safe spot,” he said.
Oropesa remained jailed Wednesday.
