In the US state of Texas, a man shot and killed five neighbors after they complained about the noise caused by his gunfire. Among the dead is an 8-year-old child. The suspect is on the run.
Violence erupted last night when neighbors asked 39-year-old Francisco Oropeza to be quieter because their baby couldn’t sleep because of the noise. He fired a rifle into the air and into the ground. Oropeza reacted angrily to the request and said he could do whatever he wanted in his own garden.
“He then went back into his house and before they knew it he was walking into their driveway with a gun in his hands,” a police spokesman said of what followed.
Under the blood
In his neighbour’s house, the man shot the five victims in the head. Five other people present were not injured. Three children were found covered in blood but were not hit: two victims had thrown themselves on them to protect them from the bullets.
The perpetrator fled after the massacre. Police have launched a manhunt using horses and sniffer dogs. According to a police spokesman, the man was known to the police because he had caused nuisance before.
The US has already seen a record number of multiple-casualty shootings this year. Since the beginning of this year, there have been 18 incidents resulting in four or more deaths. For example, a gunman opened fire at a school in Nashville and ten people were shot dead in a dance studio in a suburb of Los Angeles.
