Neighbors asked man to stop firing rifle outside. He then shot 5 people in Texas

Texas US Shooting: When the family asked Francisco Oropeza to stop firing rounds in his yard because they were trying to sleep, he fatally shot his neighbours.

Authorities widened search for the suspect after the killing of five of his neighbours in the town of Cleveland in Texas. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said that the police were searching for 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza. The gunman remained at large more than 15 hours after the shooting in which five including eight-year-old boy and a teenage girl were killed.

Texas US Shooting: Law enforcement search for the suspect a few miles from the scene where five people, including an 8-year-old child, were killed after a shooting inside a home.(AFP)

When the family asked Francisco Oropeza to stop firing rounds in his yard because they were trying to sleep, he fatally shot his neighbours, authorities said. Francisco Oropeza used an AR-style rifle and “all of his rounds were from the neck up, so basically in the head,” the police informed.

Authorities were using scent-tracking dogs and an overhead drone in the search for the suspect, who was intoxicated at the time of the shooting after which he fled toward a forest. At the time of the shooting there were 10 people in the house.Two of the victims were found by the front door and the eight-year-old boy was in the front room while three other “blood-covered” children in the home were taken to a hospital.

“The Honduran ladies that were laying over these children were doing it in such an effort as to protect the child,” the police said.

Since January 1, there have been at least 18 shootings that left four or more people dead in the US, Associated Press reported. Major mass shootings have also occurred in Texas which include last year's shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, El Paso Walmart shooting in 2019, shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs in 2017.