San Jacinto County sheriff after Oropesa apprehension: 'Everybody played a very intricate part in the arrest of this coward'

The search for a man who allegedly gunned down his neighbors has ended with his arrest, Houston-based media outlets reported. 

Thirty-eight-year-old Francisco Oropesa was arrested in the Montgomery County city of Cut and Shoot, which is 45 miles north of Houston and 17 miles east of Cleveland, where the shooting happened on Friday.

Authorities spent four days looking for Oropesa, who was a purported neighbor of the victims. 

Residents in Cleveland and surrounding areas were on edge as investigators fielded leads in relation to the suspect’s whereabouts. 

Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported that an anonymous tipster provided information that led to Oropesa’s apprehension on Tuesday.

Citing San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers, KHOU reported that Oropesa was taken to the Montgomery County Jail, with a transfer to the San Jacinto County Jail in Coldspring having been worked out. 

Capers said tips came from around the county, per the report.

"Everybody played a very intricate part in the arrest of this coward," the sheriff said, the station reported.

Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported that Oropesa is a native of Mexico who has been deported from the U.S. four times. 

It’s unclear as to what his present immigration status is as Gov. Greg Abbott had to backtrack his remarks that the victims – third-grader Daniel Enrique Lazo Guzmán, 21-year-old Diana Velasquez Alvarado, 31-year-old Obdulia Molina Rivera, 25-year-old Sonia Argentina Guzmán Taibot and 18-year-old Josué Jonatan Cáceres – were illegal immigrants. 

Oropesa was supposedly told by one of the adult victims to stop shooting his weapon so she and her family could get some sleep before the shooting took place.

According to NBC News, Oropesa and his neighbors were on good terms at the time of the incident. 

“So we went and told the man to please stop shooting, or go continue shooting further away from the house,” Wilson Garcia, whose spouse was among the victims, said in the report. “But he answered by saying he was in his property and could do whatever he wants.” 

“I said, ‘OK that’s fine. It’s your property, but could you please move further away or turn it down, that’s all,'” Garcia continued. "Then he began insulting us and we told him we were calling the cops." 

NBC News reported that Capers said a $5 million bond will be set for the suspect, who faces five murder charges.