Cleveland.- The authorities in Texas arrested this Wednesday the wife of a man suspected of shooting dead five neighbors of Honduran origin because they had asked him not to shoot in their garden.
Divimara Lamar Nava, 53, the wife of suspect Francisco Oropeza, is in custody in connection with the Friday night shooting, Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson said.
Oropeza, a 38-year-old Mexican citizen, was arrested Tuesday. The four-day search ended when authorities, thanks to a tip received, found the suspect hiding under a pile of clothes in a home closet.
The individual was captured without incident in the Conroe community, north of Houston and about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from his home in the rural town of Cleveland. That’s where authorities say he went to his neighbor’s house and shot them to death shortly before midnight Friday.
Oropeza was practicing target shooting on his property and neighbors had asked him to move further away because the noise was keeping their baby from sleeping, according to police.
The suspect will be charged with five counts of murder, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said. Bail was set at $5 million.
“Now they can rest in peace, because he is already behind bars,” Capers said of the victims’ relatives. “He will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing those five people.”
The arrest capped a sweeping police operation that involved more than 250 people from multiple jurisdictions and an $80,000 reward. On Tuesday morning, police had said that Oropeza “could be anywhere,” noting how for days authorities had scrambled to find him, openly acknowledging that they had no leads.
All the victims were Honduran. Wilson Garcia, who survived the attack, said friends and family members at the residence tried to hide and protect themselves and the children after Oropeza entered the location and began shooting, first killing his wife in the main door.
The victims were identified as Diana Velázquez Alvarado, 21 years old; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9.
