Gunman killing 5 neighbors in US Texas still at large, governor draws backlash

HOUSTON -- The suspect armed with an AR-15 style rifle is still on the run as of Monday afternoon, two and half days after killing five neighbors including a young boy in south central US state of Texas, local media reported.

More than 250 law enforcement officers from multiple agencies are searching for the gunman identified as Francisco Oropesa, a 38-year-old Mexican national, authorities said.

Investigators said they believe the suspect was intoxicated and began shooting an AR-15 in his front yard late Friday night when neighbors asked him to be quiet because they had a baby who was trying to sleep. He then began shooting inside the home and killed five of ten people inside.

The shooting took place in Cleveland, a small town about 55 miles north of Houston. All the victims were from Honduras.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has "zero leads" on where Oropesa could be, FBI Houston field office agent James Smith told reporters on Sunday while announcing an 80,000-US-dollar reward for information leading to his capture.

The suspect had been deported four times, a source familiar with the investigation told ABC News on Monday.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, was fiercely slammed immediately after he called the victims "illegal immigrants" in a tweet on Monday.

"It's below the dignity of the governor to impugn the victims of a mass shooting about their legal status," Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, told NBC News.

"All of the victims are Latino and so is the suspected gunman. This is a tragedy that involves another serial killing and a weapon for war that was used in the killing. That's the issue, not the legal status of the victims," said Garcia.

Renae Eze, a spokeswoman for the governor, blamed the federal government for providing the state incorrect information on the suspected gunman and victims on Monday afternoon.

"We've since learned that at least one of the victims may have been in the United States legally," Eze said. "We regret if the information was incorrect and detracted from the important goal of finding and arresting the criminal," she said.

Wilson Garcia, whose wife and young son were among the victims, told local media outlet KTRK-TV that his family moved in three years ago and "never had a problem" with his neighbor until Friday.

"I don't have words to describe what happened," Garcia said during a vigil Sunday. "It's like we're alive but not living. What happened was really horrible. I lived through it because I was there. I managed to escape by miracle."

"Two people died protecting my 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter and my month-and-a-half-old son," said Garcia. "They protected him with a pile of clothes so the killer wouldn't kill them, too."

Neighbor Veronica Pineda told KTRK that she had grown accustomed to neighbors shooting firearms in the area.

"There's always shooting," she told the television station.