Texas governor criticised as he calls mass shooting victims 'illegal immigrants'

01 May 2023 , 21:52

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Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement in which he said the five victims of the Cleveland shooting were "illegal immigrants" (Image: AP)

A Texas governor is facing fierce backlash after referring to the victims of a shooting as "illegal immigrants" in a statement announcing new reward money in the manhunt for the shooter.

As the search for the gunman who fatally shot five neighbours with an AR-style rifle in Cleveland enters its third day on Monday, May 1, authorities in neighbouring Montgomery County warned residents to stay inside "out of an abundance of caution" near an area which had a heavy police presence following a potential sighting of the suspect.

Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said they had no confirmation the person spotted was in fact 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, who has been at large since the shooting just before midnight on Friday, April 28, in the rural town of Cleveland, Texas.

The suspected gunman has been named as 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza (FBI/ZUMA Press Wire Service/REX/Shutterstock)

Orepeza's victims included a boy believed to be just nine years old (KTRK)

By Sunday evening, April 30, officials said more than 250 officers from multiple nearby jurisdictions had joined the manhunt, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott putting up $50,000 in reward money for tips leading to Oropeza's capture.

However, Governor Abbott faced backlash as the three-term governor described all five victims as "illegal immigrants", a potentially false statement. On Monday, May 1, his office retracted that statement and apologised.

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Critics accused Abbot of putting politics into the shooting. He has previously made hardline immigration measures a signature issue in Texas.

In his statement on Sunday, Gov. Abbott's office said they had announced the reward "for a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) top 10 fugitive who is in the country illegally and killed five illegal immigrants in a shooting Friday night in Cleveland, Texas."

A spokeswoman for Abbott, Renae Eze, said in a statement: "We've since learned that at least one of the victims may have been in the United States legally. We regret if the information was incorrect and detracted from the important goal of finding and arresting the criminal."

Five people were killed in the shooting which happened after an alleged noise complaint (HCH)

She said information given by federal officials following the shooting had indicated the suspect and victims were in the country illegally. Her statement did not address why Abbott mentioned their status in his original statement, and she did not immediately respond to questions about the criticism.

Law enforcement agencies have not confirmed the citizenship status of the victims, all of whom were from Honduras. Describing them as "illegal immigrants" in his first public statement about the shooting

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center criticised Gov Abbott on Twitter for "using social media to amplify language painting a specific narrative intended to alter the way you view + treat the people around you."

At an event on Sunday to honour fallen police officers, Abbott said the suspect had been deported four times and had reentered the country illegally, according to The Houston Chronicle.

Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, was also killed in the shooting which took place in the rural Texas town (GoFundME)

An FBI agent on the scene near Houston acknowledged authorities have little to go on as the manhunt for Oropeza widens. He is a Mexican national who has reportedly been deported four times since 2009, according to a US official with direct knowledge of the case.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as public disclosure was not authorised, said the gunman was first deported in March 2009, and last in July 2016. He was also deported in September 2009 and January 2012. Neighbours said he had lived on their street for years prior to the shooting.

On Sunday, FBI special agent in charge James Smith said: "I can tell you right now, we have zero leads."

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After fleeing the area Friday, likely on foot, Oropeza is considered armed and dangerous. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said authorities had widened the search beyond the area of the shooting - which reportedly happened after Oropeza's neighbours asked him to stop firing off rounds in his back garden late at night as a baby was trying to sleep.

Wilson Garcia's wife and stepson were killed after the gunman opened fire at his house (KTRK)

At a vigil on Sunday in Cleveland, Wilson Garcia, the one-month-old's dad, described terrifying efforts inside his home by friends and family that night to escape, hide, and shield themselves and children after Oropeza walked up to the home and began firing - killing his wife first at the front door and also killing his stepson.

The AR-15 style rifle police said Oropeza had used in the shootings was recovered by authorities, however, they said they weren't sure whether he was carrying another weapon after others were found in his home.

The victims were identified as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21, Julisa Moline Rivera, 21, Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18, Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25, and Daniel Enrique Laso, nine.

Sheriff Capers said he hoped the reward money would motivate people to provide information and that there were plans to put up billboards in Spanish to spread the word.

34-year-old Veronica Pineda lives across the road from the suspect's home, and said authorities stopped by her house to ask if they could search her property to see if the gunman might be hiding there. She said she was fearful he had not yet been captured.

"It is kind of scary," she said. "You never know where he can be."

Fiona Leishman