Coldspring, Texas
CNN
—
[Breaking news update, published at 9:47 a.m. ET]
The longtime partner of the man suspected of fatally shooting five people, including a 9-year-old boy and his mother, at a Texas home last week has been booked into the Montgomery County Jail, according to sheriff’s online records show.
Divimara Lamar Nava faces one count of hindering the apprehension or prosecution of a known felony, a third-degree felony. She was arrested at the same location in Montgomery County where suspected gunman Francisco Oropesa was arrested Tuesday night, according to case records.
FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES
It is unclear if he has an attorney or when his court appearance will be.
“Several arrests” have been made in connection with Tuesday’s capture of Oropesa in a closet at a home, and “others depend on what’s going on right now,” Deputy Chief Tim Kean of the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office. Fewer than five people beyond Orpesa have been arrested, he said.
Oropesa was taken overnight to the San Jacinto County Jail following his arrest following a massive manhunt.
Over the past two days, Nava has been in and out of the San Jacinto County home he shared with Oropesa, CNN noted. Authorities had been in “constant contact” with her, they said, and an FBI official was seen at her home on Monday while she was there.
Nava and Oropesa have been together for about 12 years and have a child together, a source familiar with the family told CNN, although they are not legally married. The woman in the Montgomery County booking photo is Nava, the source confirmed.
[Original story, published at 8:36 a.m. ET]
“Several arrests” have been made in connection with the capture of the man suspected of fatally shooting five people last week at a Texas home, and “others depend on what’s going on now,” a sheriff’s deputy
In addition to accused gunman Francisco Oropesa, fewer than five other people have been arrested, said Deputy Chief Tim Kean of the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office. “But I can’t go into the details.”
Authorities are also waiting to hear if the weapon of mass shooting has been recovered. “As of right now, we might have the gun, but we’ll have to wait for the ballistics (evidence),” Kean told a news conference outside the prison where Orpesa is now being held after a days-long hunt human
A 38-year-old Mexican man from Oropesa was found Tuesday evening stashed under a pile of clothes in a closet a few miles from the scene of the massacre after a tip helped lead authorities to him, the sheriff of San Jacinto County, Greg Capers. Law enforcement also tracked Orpesa’s wife to the home, who is associated with one of the suspect’s family members, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Orpesa will be held on five counts of murder, with bail set at $5 million, the sheriff’s office said.
The suspect is expected to appear in court Wednesday to be read the charges, a source in the San Jacinto County district attorney’s office told CNN, adding that the charges could be upgraded to capital murder, a felony death penalty in Texas. Authorities are still investigating whether he had help in evading arrest, the San Jacinto County District Attorney told CNN.
“We’re very happy,” Jefrinson Rivera, the partner of victim Diana Velázquez Alvarado, told CNN about the arrest in a community about a 20-minute drive west of the Cleveland shooting. northwest of houston.
Evelyn Echeverria, 16, had been lying in bed around 6 p.m. when she heard helicopters flying over her home, she told CNN.
“I came out and I saw a lot of police and maybe 20 minutes later they came out with him,” said Echeverria, who took a video of the attention. “He came out in handcuffs. He appeared to be cooperating with the officers.”
Officers drove Oropesa through the yard of a home and then gathered around him as he sat in a police vehicle, witness videos show.
Orpesa is accused of fatally shooting five people Friday after he was told to stop firing his rifle outside near his neighbor’s home. Wilson Garcia, whose wife and son were killed, and two others had asked Oropesa to shoot on the other side of their property because the gunfire would wake up Garcia’s baby, he told CNN. The suspect refused and soon opened fire on the home where Garcia’s family was gathered, he said.
The massacre is among more than 180 mass shootings in the United States this year. . . . The victims, all of Honduran nationality, have been identified as García’s wife, Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25 years old; Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31 years old, and Jose Jonathan Casarez,
Authorities now have 90 days to charge Orpesa, a police source involved said. Because of his Mexican status, the Mexican consulate will be officially notified of his circumstances on Wednesday, the police source said.
At least four times since 2009, Oropesa had entered the U.S. illegally and been deported, according to an ICE source. An immigration judge first removed him in March 2009 before he was deported again in September 2009, January 2012 and July 2016, the source said.
It is unclear how long Oropesa had been in the US before last week’s attack.
Ultimately, it was information sent through the FBI’s tip line that pointed investigators to the home where Orpesa was discovered, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge said Tuesday night by Jimmy Paul.
Federal, state and local authorities had devoted considerable resources to the hunt for the fugitive, including an $80,000 collective reward for information leading to his arrest, and more than 200 law enforcement officers on the case, according to officials said.
Officials’ efforts may have been hampered by a lack of confidence in law enforcement. Some Latinos, particularly immigrants, fear that contact with law enforcement could raise questions about their immigration status and lead to deportation, they told CNN.
After initial leads on Orpesa went cold over the weekend, authorities asked for tips, which eventually came in from Texas, Wyoming, Florida, Maryland and Oklahoma, the sheriff said.
“We just want to thank the person who had the courage and bravery to call the suspect’s location,” Paul said.
It’s unclear whether law enforcement had tracked Orpesa’s wife to the home before or after she sent the information to the FBI.
Once they had concentrated on the home, members of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol tactical unit, known as BORTAC, entered the home and they took the suspect into custody, a Houston FBI spokesman said. The sheriff’s office located the small-town home of Cut and Shoot, while the FBI office in Houston he tweeted it is located next to Conroe.
The BORTAC unit has played a key role in several high-profile US operations, including last year’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where its members fatally shot the gunman, say the authorities.
More than a dozen family members and friends gathered Friday at the home in Cleveland, said Garcia, whose wife and son were killed. They were helping his wife get ready for a church event, he said.
But their evening was disrupted by shots fired by Orpesa outside their house next door, the father said. The shots were waking up Garcia’s baby and making him cry.
About 10 to 20 minutes before the alleged gunman opened fire, Garcia and two others approached Orpesa to ask him to shoot on the other side of his property, he said.
The suspect refused and Garcia said he would call the police.
“We went in and my wife was talking to the police, and we called five times because he was more threatening,” Garcia recalled.
At some point, they saw Oropesa leave his property and cock his gun, Garcia said. Worried, he told his wife to come into the house.
“My wife said, ‘Go inside, I don’t think he’s going to shoot me because I’m a woman, I’ll stay here at the door.'”
Soon after, the gunman charged into Garcia’s home, first shooting his wife, Argentina Guzmán, at the door before killing three other adults and Garcia’s son, Daniel, the grieving father said.
“One of the people who died saw my wife fall to the ground,” Garcia told CNN. “He told me that you are throwing me out of the window because my children were already without a mother. So one of us had to stay alive to take care of them. She was the person who helped me jump out of the window.”
The victims were shot “almost execution-style” at close range above the neck, Capers told local media.
Officers responded to the scene as quickly as they could, the sheriff said. But his small force covers a large county, he said, and the house is about 15 minutes outside the city.
