The manhunt for the Texas shooter continues

For your information, a reward of $80,000 (almost CHF 72,000) is being offered. The FBI considers the suspect “armed and dangerous”. According to San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers, he could be “anywhere” after sniffer dogs went missing.

The man – according to the sheriff a Mexican – shot people in an apartment building with a rifle late Friday night. According to the sheriff, neighbors had previously asked him to stop firing in his front yard because a baby was trying to sleep. The drunk man refused the request. Then, as photos from the entry camera showed, he showed up at the front door with a gun.

Alerted police found four dead when they arrived at the home, and another person later succumbed to gunshot wounds in hospital. Capers says a child is one of the victims. Officials combed the densely wooded area around Cleveland with dogs and, in part, on horseback, according to the Houston Chronicle newspaper.

During the follow-up, his cell phone was found, as well as clothing left behind, Capers told CNN. Deployed sniffer dogs would then have lost track.

According to the sheriff, the people were killed “almost execution style” — shots to the head or neck at close range. Among the dead were two women who apparently had shielded two children from the shots with their bodies. According to the sheriff, a total of ten people were in the home, five of whom survived the bloody act unharmed.

According to Capers, the five fatalities are people from Honduras. According to broadcaster CNN, they should have moved from the Texan metropolis of Houston to Cleveland just days earlier. The Central American country’s foreign minister, Enrique Reina, expressed his condolences on Twitter to the families of the victims. “We demand that the full weight of the law be used against those responsible for this crime,” he wrote Saturday.

According to Capers, there had been previous complaints that the Mexican was firing his rifle in the front yard. On the night of the crime, police received multiple calls about sustained shots. According to CNN, the officers seized weapons at the suspect’s home, including the semi-automatic weapon allegedly used in the murders, according to the “Houston Chronicle.” The perpetrator may have taken other firearms from his possession during his flight.

The laws in the US state of Texas regarding gun ownership are considered to be particularly lax. The lobby for the right to bear arms for self-protection is strong. In May 2022, an 18-year-old shot and killed 19 children and two teachers with an assault rifle at an elementary school in the small Texas town of Uvalde. Tens of thousands of people die every year in the United States from gun violence (sda/dpa)