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Texas mass shooting survivors slam cops for failing to act on time even after receiving multiple calls

Ramiro Guzman, the victim's other neighbor, said that he called the cops multiple times after he heard the firings but was allegedly told that the police were there

CLEVELAND, TEXAS: Two individuals, who survived the massacre that claimed the lives of five people in rural Texas, spoke about the incompetence of the local police and failure to act properly even after getting their 911 calls about shooter Francisco Oropeza. Wilson Garcia, who lost his wife, young son, and three family friends in the deadly shooting, said he and his wife immediately dialed the emergency service the moment they learned that an armed neighbor threatened them after Garcia "respectfully" asked him to shoot in a different place. 

The authorities said that shortly after the supposedly inebriated neighbor entered Garcia's Cleveland, Texas, home with an AR-15 rifle and shot dead five people "execution style". Daniel Enrique Laso, 9; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25, Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21, Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18, lost their lives in the fatal shooting. 

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Garcia's neighbor speaks

Ramiro Guzman, the victim's other neighbor, also said that he called the authorities multiple times after he heard the firings but was allegedly told by the dispatchers that the police were there. The man reportedly asked his aunt to call the police to see if the authorities just did not believe him. 

Officers arrived after half an hour

San Jacinto County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived on the scene 30 minutes after the initial call, NBC News reported. At that time, the gunman had already fled the scene after killing five people. "It was half an hour after we first started calling," Guzman told the outlet, adding, "I wonder if they had come in those 30 minutes this wouldn't have happened. Maybe my family would still be alive."

Gunman Francisco Oropeza, 38, is still at large and the authorities are now offering an $80,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. According to The Associated Press, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers stated that the officers arrived as fast as they could as they had only three deputies covering 700 square miles. San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon claimed that the initial call was about harassment which is not given as a top priority but they had to quickly change gears when the shooting calls came in. 

"They swarmed to get there as soon as the information was put out," Dillon told NBC News, adding, "It just took them a while to get there because they were not staged to get there quickly." The authorities are now clueless about the killer's possible whereabouts but believe that he escaped the area on foot.

"We have over 200 law enforcement personnel from federal, state, and local agencies trying to bring this suspect into custody," FBI special agent James Smith said at a press conference over the weekend. "We are asking everyone for your help until we can bring this suspect, this monster, to justice," he added.

Police also failed to act during Uvalde school massacre 

This incident took place almost a year after a gunman named Salvador Ramos killed at least 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas, a little community west of San Antonio. Ramos, 18, entered the elementary school and unleashed fire on children and teachers, killing 19 fourth-graders and two of their teachers. The Uvalde school district reportedly has suspended its entire police force after the department failed to provide adequate aid to children in the mass shooting. 

'The guy is long gone'

Twitter users also reacted to the incident. One user tweeted, "The guy is long gone. He is in Mexico." Another tweeted, "That’s why we prefer california than texas." One tweeted, "Close the border… Problem solved. 5 people would be alive today." Another wrote, "He was also intoxicated BUT it’s the AR’s fault!" "It’s crazy to me that there isn’t better gun laws in the US… I moved back to Canada and don’t miss all the shootings at all," tweeted one.

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