Overnight, Francisco Oropesa, the man who slaughtered a family of illegal Honduran immigrants in their home on Sunday was arrested and charged with five counts of murder and had a $5 million bond. But despite running full reports on the arrest and his heinous crime Wednesday morning, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS Mornings refused to inform their viewers that Oropesa was also in the country illegally and had been deported four previous times.
The standout among the morning broadcast newscasts was NBC’s Today. While correspondent Sam Brock didn’t directly say Oropesa was an illegal immigrant, he did disclose the accused killer’s deportation history. “The arrest comes as new details emerge as a man deported from the U.S. four times,” he reported.
Brock also noted that Oropesa was known to police and had law enforcement at his door many times, including a domestic violence incident in June, 2022. He asked San Jacinto County Sherriff Greg Capers about it during a press conference Tuesday night:
BROCK: There were multiple occasions, you weren’t exactly sure how many of police being called to that property for a firearm being discharged. And then in 2022, a protective order that was filed by his wife for domestic abuse. At any point did that prompt further investigation from your office?
CAPERS: Yes, sir. We actually filed charges on him in 2022 and it – to the best of my knowledge, they – we got a warrant for him, and the constable went to serve him in another county because he left here and never could make contact with the subject.
Over on ABC, not only did they have no interest in Oropesa’s deportation history, they didn’t even have an interest in his history outside of Sunday’s shooting and his AR-15. “He was outside shooting his AR-15 for fun and they asked him to stop. Shortly after, that's when police say he entered their home and gunned down five people inside,” correspondent Matt Rivers said, with heavy skepticism of the idea of someone shooting a gun for fun.
Interestingly, Good Morning America was the only morning newscast that tried to frame the murders as a mass shooting. “Texas Mass Shooting Suspect Captured,” their chyron read. CBS’s chyron called it a “Texas Massacre.”
For CBS’s part, correspondent Janet Shamlian noted that all of Oropesa’s victims were from Honduras but didn’t note their legal status nor his. “Authorities say the incident happened after the suspect's neighbor asked him to stop shooting his gun in his yard because the baby was sleeping. Wilson Garcia's wife and 9-year-old son were killed. The boy was the youngest of the victims, all from Honduras,” she told viewers.
Shamlian also omitted Oropesa’s history of brushes with law enforcement.
What CBS did have was co-anchor Gayle King putting a focus on the name of the town he was arrested in: Cut and Shoot, Texas. King and Shamlian had this exchange:
KING: A lot of people are glad that there is an arrest. I can't get over the name of the town though, Janet. Cut and Shoot, Texas. I thought that was somebody was pulling my leg on that one. Thank you.
SHAMLIAN: Indeed.
The refusal to report that the man who killed five people including a child was in the country illegally was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Colgate on ABC and Crest on CBS. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
May 3, 2023
7:03:17 a.m. EasternGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: First, to breaking news overnight. The man accused of killing five neighbors in Texas including a mother and her child captured by police after nearly a week-long manhunt.
ROBIN ROBERTS: And we’re learning how police tracked him down and eventually finding him hiding in a closet under a pile of laundry. Matt Rivers joins us with the latest. Good morning, Matt.
MATT RIVERS: Good morning, Robin. For the first time in five days this community here in Cold Spring, Texas, Cleveland, Texas, waking up without a mass murderer on the loose. Authorities overnight taking Francisco Oropesa into custody without violence.
[Cuts to video]
Overnight, the arrest an entire community was waiting for. Accused killer, Francisco Oropesa slumped, shirtless, cuffed, and now facing five counts of murder.
SHERIFF GREG CAPERS (San Jacinto County, Texas): He now will be taken my jail where his new residence will be.
RIVERS: Authorities in Cleveland, Texas laying out details. Oropesa's time on the run ending with an anonymous call at 5:15 p.m. local time Tuesday.
JIMMY PAUL (FBI special agent in charge): The tip for the suspect’s location came in through the FBI tip line.
RIVERS: About an hour after that call came in, officers descending on this home just 11 miles from the original crime scene. A source close to the investigation telling ABC station KTRK, the home belonging to an Oropesa family member. Border Patrol, Texas State Troopers, and U.S. Marshalls went inside.
CAPERS: He was caught hiding in a closet underneath some laundry.
RIVERS: It marked the end of an urgent manhunt that began Friday when sheriffs says Oropesa argued with neighbors. He was outside shooting his AR-15 for fun and they asked him to stop. Shortly after, that's when police say he entered their home and gunned down five people inside. He then disappeared, whereabouts unknown for days. An entire area on edge. Authorities now hoping his arrest brings relief.
UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST: What's your message to the family members?
CAPERS: They can rest easy now because he is behind bars.
[Cuts back to live]
RIVERS: Now, Oropesa is here behind me inside the San Jacinto County jail. He's being held, George, on a $5 million bond.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, Matt. Thanks very much.
CBS Mornings
May 3, 2023
7:03:40 a.m. EasternTONY DOKOUPIL: We're going to begin with the breaking news out of Texas where a man accused of shooting five of his neighbors including a child is now behind bars. Francisco Oropesa is his name. He was found less than 20 miles from where the shooting occurred hiding under a pile of laundry. And officials say a call to a tip line is what led them there.
Janet Shamlian is outside the San Jacinto Counties Sheriff's Office for us. Janet, apparently that reward worked. Good morning.
JANET SHAMLIAN: Absolutely it did, Tony. After four days of searching for him, the suspect is being held here in the county jail this morning. And authorities are telling us it happened very quickly. Within 90 minutes of getting that tip, he was in handcuffs.
[Cuts to video]
This is the moment Francisco Oropesa was led away in handcuffs, ending a nationwide manhunt. Authorities say a call to an FBI tip line led them to a home in the nearby town of Cut and Shoot, Texas.
SHERIFF GREG CAPERS (San Jacinto County, Texas): The U.S. Marshals, FBI, we had a tac team. They all meandered over there and found that -- that tip to be true.
SHAMLIAN: The arrest happened about 16 miles from Cleveland, Texas, where the 38-year-old is accused of going to his neighbor's home and killing five people with an AR-style rifle Friday night. Before fleeing, on the run, for the last four days.
CAPERS: He was caught hiding in a closet underneath some laundry. They effectively made the arrest. He is uninjured. Bottom line is we now have this man in custody.
SHAMLIAN: Authorities say the incident happened after the suspect's neighbor asked him to stop shooting his gun in his yard because the baby was sleeping. Wilson Garcia's wife and 9-year-old son were killed. The boy was the youngest of the victims, all from Honduras. Officials say they hope the arrest will give closure to their loved ones.
JOE RUIZ DE CHAVEZ (U.S. Marshal supervisory deputy): I hope that this will bring them some comfort, and they can grieve.
[Cuts back to live]
SHAMLIAN: The sheriff also told us that Oropesa is facing five counts of murder and is being held on a $5 million bond this morning. And he fully expects the person who called in that tip leading to the arrest will get that substantial reward money. Gayle.
GAYLE KING: A lot of people are glad that there is an arrest. I can't get over the name of the town though, Janet. Cut and Shoot, Texas. I thought that was somebody was pulling my leg on that one. Thank you.
SHAMLIAN: Indeed.
KING: Go ahead. Go ahead.
SHAMLIAN: It's an unusual name, a town in Texas. But we have many of them here.
KING: All right. Thank you, Janet.
NBC’s Today
May 3, 2023
7:04:09 a.m. Eastern(…)
SAM BROCK: The arrest comes as new details emerge as a man deported from the U.S. four times. The San Jacinto County district attorney telling NBC News Oropesa allegedly beat his wife last June, prompting her to file a protective order. Although, the DA says she ultimately didn't press charges.
There were multiple occasions, you weren’t exactly sure how many of police being called to that property for a firearm being discharged. And then in 2022, a protective order that was filed by his wife for domestic abuse. At any point did that prompt further investigation from your office?
SHERIFF GREG CAPERS (San Jacinto County, Texas): Yes, sir. We actually filed charges on him in 2022 and it – to the best of my knowledge, they – we got a warrant for him, and the constable went to serve him in another county because he left here and never could make contact with the subject.
(…)
