HOUSTON (AP) — Lawyers for the man accused of killing five of his neighbors after he stormed into their Texas home indicated on Thursday that anything that led to the deadly shooting was still unclear and that the suspect was someone who was generous and well – fallen.
Francisco Oropeza, 38, made his first court appearance Thursday after being arrested on May 2 following a four-day manhunt. He faces five counts of murder in the April 28 shooting in a rural neighborhood in Cleveland, 45 miles (72 km) northeast of Houston. Authorities allege that after being told by his neighbors to stop firing his AR rifle because a baby was trying to sleep, Oropeza stormed into their home and killed five people, including a nine-year-old boy . All five victims were from Honduras.
Oropeza, dressed in a faded pink and white striped prison uniform, said nothing to reporters as he was led into a courthouse in Coldspring, Texas, about 60 miles (97 km) north of Houston. He also did not comment during the trial hearing. Oropeza is a Mexican citizen who was deported four times between 2009 and 2016, US immigration officials said.
After the hearing, his lawyers said it was too early to know what happened on the night of the killings and that tensions between Oropeza and its neighbors had been building for some time.
“The initial story about not shooting a gun in the backyard because a baby was sleeping probably won’t turn out to be an accurate account of events,” said Anthony Osso, one of Oropeza’s attorneys.
Osso said that while the killings were portrayed as a mass shooting, it will end up being “a very different situation”.
Wilson Garcia, whose wife and 9-year-old son were among those killed, previously told reporters he and two others “respectfully” asked Oropeza if he could continue shooting from his home because Garcia’s newborn son was trying to sleep.
“He told us he was on his property and could do whatever he wanted,” Garcia said after a vigil at his son’s school on April 30.
Osso said Oropeza and his neighbors were friends. Oropeza, a handyman, would help anyone in the neighborhood doing electrical or plumbing work, his attorneys said.
The relationship between Oropeza and his neighbors began to deteriorate after the neighbors’ dogs entered Oropeza’s yard and killed his family’s sheep and chickens, Osso said.
Lisa Andrews, another of Oropeza’s attorneys, said what led to the shooting was “much more complicated and a very different picture than the original testimony.”
Both Andrews and Osso declined to comment on what happened the night of the shooting or what Oropeza may have told them about it.
Garcia said he never had any problems with Oropeza and that their wives sometimes talked. He said Oropeza once helped him cut down a tree.
Rob Freyer, the first assistant district attorney for the San Jacinto County District Attorney’s Office, declined to comment on claims by Oropeza’s attorneys that not everything is known about what led to the shooting.
“It was a massacre. The whole world knows that… It was a tragedy,” Freyer said.
Andrews said she expects the murder charges against Oropeza to be escalated to murder, which would see him face the death penalty.
San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon said Oropeza’s case likely won’t appear before a grand jury until next month.
Oropeza’s next court date is August 10. His wife and one of Oropeza’s friends have each been charged with obstructing the arrest or prosecution of a known criminal.
