Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Wife Arrested After Suspected Texas Gunman Found Hiding in Home
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
May 3, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A day after the man suspected of killing five of his neighbors in a Texas shooting was arrested, the sheriff says his wife has also been taken into custody.

Divimara Lamar Nava, 53, wife of suspect Francisco Oropeza, was in custody in connection with the Friday night shooting, according to Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson.

Nava had previously denied knowledge of Oropeza’s whereabouts, Henderson said, but authorities believe she hid him in the home near Conroe where he was arrested Tuesday.

Lamar Nava was arrested early Wednesday and was being held in the Montgomery County jail on a felony charge of hindering the apprehension or prosecution of a known felon, according to online jail records. The records do not list a bond for her and indicate she was arrested by state police at a home in Conroe.

A four-day manhunt for Oropeza ended Tuesday when authorities, acting on a tip, said they found the suspect hiding underneath a pile of laundry in the closet of a house.

Oropeza, 38, was captured without incident near the community of Conroe, north of Houston and about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from his home in the rural town of Cleveland. That’s where authorities say he went next door and shot his neighbors with an AR-style rifle shortly before midnight Friday.

Oropeza had been shooting rounds on his property and the attack occurred after neighbors asked him to go farther away because the gunfire was keeping a baby awake, according to police.

Oropeza will be charged with five counts of murder, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said. Bond was set at $5 million.

“They can rest easy now, because he is behind bars,” Capers said of the families of the victims. “He will live out his life behind bars for killing those five.”

The arrest ends what had become a widening dragnet that had grown to more than 250 people from multiple jurisdictions and had seen $80,000 in reward money offered. As recently as Tuesday morning, the FBI said that Oropeza “could be anywhere,” underlining how investigators for days struggled to get a sense of his whereabouts and candidly acknowledged they had no leads.

The tip that finally ended the chase came at 5:15 p.m., and a little more than an hour later, Oropeza was in custody, said FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul. The alleged shooter is a Mexican national who has been deported four times between 2009 and 2016, according to U.S. immigration officials.

Connor Hagan, an FBI spokesman, said they would not disclose the identity of the person who called in the tip — one of more than 200 tips he says investigators received. Authorities did not say who owned the house, whether Oropeza knew them or if anyone else was inside when he was found.

They also would not say whether friends or family had helped Oropeza evade capture, or where he had been since fleeing the scene in Cleveland, which authorities previously said was likely on foot.

Hagan said the three agencies that went in to arrest Oropeza were the U.S. Marshals, Texas Department of Public Safety and US Border Patrol’s BORTAC team.

Drones, Tracking Dogs Used in Manhunt

Drones and scent-tracking dogs had been used during the widening manhunt, which included combing a heavily wooded forest a few miles from the scene. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott offered a $50,000 reward as the search dragged late into the weekend, while others offered an additional $30,000 in reward money.

Capers said that prior to Friday’s shooting deputies had been called to the suspect’s house at least one other time previously over shooting rounds in his yard.

All of the victims were from Honduras. Wilson Garcia, who survived the shooting, said friends and family in the home tried to hide and shield themselves and children after Oropeza walked up to the home and began firing, killing his wife first at the front door.

The victims were identified as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9.

A government official in Honduras said the remains of four of the victims would be repatriated. Velásquez Alvarado will be buried in the United States at the request of her sister and her husband, said Wilson Paz, general director of Honduras’ migrant protection service.

Osmán Velásquez, Diana’s father, said Tuesday that his daughter had recently gotten residency and had traveled to the United States without documents eight years ago with the help of a sister, who was already living there.

“Her sister convinced me to let her take my daughter. She told me the United States is a country of opportunities and that’s true,” he said. “But I never imagined it was just for this.”

In offering the reward, Abbott called the victims “illegal immigrants,” a partially false statement that his office walked back and apologized for Monday after drawing wide backlash over drawing attention to their immigration status. Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze said they had since learned that one of the victims may have been in the country legally.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Visalia Police Seek Public’s Help in Locating Stolen SUV

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police to Conduct Bicycle, Pedestrian Safety Operation Saturday

DON'T MISS

Tesla Owners Struggle with Brand Loyalty Amid Musk’s DOGE Controversies

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Budget Plan Puts David Valadao on the Medi-Cal Hot Seat

DON'T MISS

Meta to Start Testing Crowd-Sourced Fact-Checking, Based on X Example, Next Week

DON'T MISS

The One-Take Wonder of ‘Adolescence,’ a Family Drama About Knife Crime

DON'T MISS

Senate Dems Refuse to Go Along With GOP Spending Plan, as Shutdown Deadline Nears

DON'T MISS

49ers Agree to 2-Year Contract With QB Mac Jones, AP Source Says

DON'T MISS

Belgian Prosecutors Arrest Suspects in Huawei Bribery Probe Targeting EU Parliament

DON'T MISS

Trump Threatens 200% Tariff on EU Wine in Response to Proposed US Whiskey Tax

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rebecca Ann Maestas

UP NEXT

Clovis Police Arrest 2 Suspects for Narcotics, Fraud at House Where They Squatted

UP NEXT

Two Men Identified as Suspects in Fresno County 2016 Double Homicide

UP NEXT

Fresno Auto Theft Operation Leads to Seven Arrests, Two Suspects Outstanding

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Hannah Rose Barker

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Arrest 15 for DUI in Weekend Enforcement

UP NEXT

4 Charged in Death of 5-Year-Old Boy ‘Incinerated’ in Hyperbaric Chamber Explosion

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Recover $1.2 Million in Stolen Property, Seek Public’s Help Finding Suspect

UP NEXT

Jury Finds Landlord Guilty of Murder in 2023 Attack on Palestinian American Boy

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Junior Xiong

Trump’s Budget Plan Puts David Valadao on the Medi-Cal Hot Seat

2 hours ago

Meta to Start Testing Crowd-Sourced Fact-Checking, Based on X Example, Next Week

2 hours ago

The One-Take Wonder of ‘Adolescence,’ a Family Drama About Knife Crime

2 hours ago

Senate Dems Refuse to Go Along With GOP Spending Plan, as Shutdown Deadline Nears

2 hours ago

49ers Agree to 2-Year Contract With QB Mac Jones, AP Source Says

2 hours ago

Belgian Prosecutors Arrest Suspects in Huawei Bribery Probe Targeting EU Parliament

2 hours ago

Trump Threatens 200% Tariff on EU Wine in Response to Proposed US Whiskey Tax

2 hours ago

Putin Agrees in Principle With US Proposal for 30-Day Ceasefire in Ukraine

3 hours ago

Playful Laser-Dot Chasing Bogey Is Ready to Be Your Buddy

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rebecca Ann Maestas

3 hours ago

Visalia Police Seek Public’s Help in Locating Stolen SUV

Police are asking for the public’s help in locating a stolen 2018 GMC Yukon Denali reported missing early Thursday near the intersection of ...

26 minutes ago

Visalia police are seeking the public’s help in locating a stolen 2018 GMC Yukon Denali and urge anyone with information to contact authorities. (Visalia PD)
26 minutes ago

Visalia Police Seek Public’s Help in Locating Stolen SUV

Fresno police are seeking two suspects who stole several boxes of shoes from the WSS store on East Cesar Chavez Boulevard on February 20, 2025.
33 minutes ago

Fresno Police to Conduct Bicycle, Pedestrian Safety Operation Saturday

1 hour ago

Tesla Owners Struggle with Brand Loyalty Amid Musk’s DOGE Controversies

2 hours ago

Trump’s Budget Plan Puts David Valadao on the Medi-Cal Hot Seat

2 hours ago

Meta to Start Testing Crowd-Sourced Fact-Checking, Based on X Example, Next Week

2 hours ago

The One-Take Wonder of ‘Adolescence,’ a Family Drama About Knife Crime

2 hours ago

Senate Dems Refuse to Go Along With GOP Spending Plan, as Shutdown Deadline Nears

2 hours ago

49ers Agree to 2-Year Contract With QB Mac Jones, AP Source Says

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend