![](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/uJyGbyf5EbyLA74s6jRStbdgUW4=/750x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fvms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com%2F2023%2F04%2F504720%2Ftn-texas.png)
Law enforcement officers are going door-to-door searching for clues about a gunman who fled after allegedly killing five people in a rural Texas town after his neighbours asked him to stop firing off bullets in his yard.
The alleged shooter, Francisco Oropeza, 38, is considered armed and dangerous after fleeing the area on Friday, likely on foot, said San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers.
He said authorities had widened the search to 32kms from the scene of the shooting.
Investigators found clothes and a phone while combing a rural area that includes dense layers of forest, but tracking dogs lost the scent, Capers said.
Police recovered the AR-15-style rifle that Oropeza allegedly used in the shootings but authorities were not sure if he was carrying another weapon, the sheriff said. There were other weapons in the suspect's home, he said.
"He could be anywhere now," Capers said.
The attack happened near the town of Cleveland, north of Houston, on a street where some residents say neighbours often unwind by firing off guns.
It was a much quieter scene Sunday. Police crime scene tape had been removed from around the victims' home, where four bullet holes could be seen in the front door.
An FBI agent, several Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and other officers could be seen walking around the neighborhood, going door-to-door and trying to speak with neighbours. The agent and officers declined to comment about what they were doing.
The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8.
The confrontation followed the neighbours walking up to the fence and asking the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said.
The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, Capers said, and one person in the house got a video of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle.
The shooting took place on a rural pothole-riddled street where single-story homes sit on wide one acre lots and are surrounded by a thick canopy of trees.
Capers said his deputies had been to Oropeza's home at least once before and spoken with him about "shooting his gun in the yard."
It was not clear whether any action was taken at the time.
At a news conference on Saturday evening, the sheriff said firing a gun on your own property can be illegal, but he did not say whether Oropeza had previously broken the law.
Capers said the new arrivals in the home had moved from Houston earlier in the week, but he said he did not know whether they were planning to stay there.
Across the US since January 1, there have been at least 18 shootings that left four or more people dead, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today, in partnership with Northeastern University.
The violence is sparked by a range of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang retaliation; school shootings; and workplace vendettas.
Texas has confronted multiple mass shootings in recent years, including last year's attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019; and a gunman opening fire at a church in the tiny town of Sutherland Springs in 2017.
Sign up here to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.