Wife of suspected Texas gunman, accused of killing five neighbours, arrested

Divimara Lamar Nava (Montgomery County Jail via AP)

The wife of a man arrested over the fatal shooting of five of his neighbours in Texas has also been taken into custody by police in the US state.

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

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

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

Francisco Oropeza is accused of fatally shooting five of his neighbours with an AR-style rifle (FBI via AP)

Oropeza, 38, was captured without incident near the community of Conroe, north of Houston and about 20 miles from his home in the rural town of Cleveland.

That is where authorities say he went next door and shot his neighbours with an AR-style rifle shortly before midnight on Friday.

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

He will be charged with five counts of murder, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said.

The alleged gunman is a Mexican national who has been deported four times between 2009 and 2016, according to US immigration officials

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers speaks to the media (Houston Chronicle via AP)

“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.”

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, who was just nine.

A government official in Honduras said the remains of four of the victims would be repatriated.