Cleveland, Texas, shooting: Man who lost wife, son speaks after 5 killed by neighbor

The man who lost his wife and son after authorities said his neighbor opened fire at his home in a rural Texas town on Friday told reporters that he had asked the man to stop shooting near the home before the deadly attack.

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Wilson Garcia said that he and two other people went to Francisco Oropesa’s home on Friday night to ask that he shoot farther away from the house because the sound was making his month-old son cry, The Associated Press reported. The family had guests over at the time and planned to make some food, KTRK reported.

“He told us he was on his property, and he could do what he wanted,” Garcia told the AP.

Garcia told Oropesa that they would call the police, KTRK reported. Family members called five times in the ensuing minutes and heard each time that help was on the way, according to the AP.

About 10 to 20 minutes after Garcia returned to his family’s home, he said Oropesa began to run toward him, reloading his gun, the AP reported.

“I told my wife, ‘Get inside. This man has loaded his weapon,’” Garcia told the AP. “My wife told me to go inside because ‘he won’t fire at me, I’m a woman.’”

Oropesa killed Garcia’s wife, 25-year-old Sonia Argentina Guzman, in the doorway, CNN reported. He shot and killed Garcia’s 9-year-old son, Daniel Enrique Laso, and three more adults before authorities arrived.

Among those who were killed were two women who protected the couple’s baby and 2-year-old daughter, the AP reported. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers earlier told The Washington Post that the women were found lying on top of the young children in a bedroom “trying to protect them.” Garcia told CNN that one of the women told him to jump out of a window and escape the shooting.

“(She) saw when my wife fell to the ground and was dying, and she told me to throw myself out the window because my children were already without their mother,” he said.

The victims have been identified as Garcia’s son, Guzman, 21-year-old Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 31-year-old Julisa Molina Rivera and 18-year-old Jose Jonathan Casarez. Authorities identified Garcia’s son as an 8-year-old boy, although he told CNN that his son turned 9 in January.

“I am trying to be strong for my children,” he told the AP through tears. “My daughter sort of understands. It is very difficult when she begins to ask for mama and for her (older) brother.”

Garcia told KTRK that the family had never before had a problem with Oropesa. He said they had moved into the house about three years ago.

A manhunt for Oropesa remained ongoing Monday. Officials with the FBI’s Houston office warned that he is considered armed and dangerous.