By Daniella Silva and Corky Siemaszko -
NBC News
The youngest of the victims of the shooting in which five members of a family in Texas were killed used to ride a bicycle to the school bus stop with the son of the man who is now wanted for perpetrating the massacre, Ramiro Guzmán told NBC News, uncle of Daniel Enrique Laso, 9 years old.
Guzmán assured this Monday that he never spoke with Francisco Oropesa, 38 years old and the alleged perpetrator of the shooting, but that his nephew "always rode his bicycle to where the school bus picked him up" and that "sometimes they went together", referring to Laso and the son of Oropesa.
"They were friends. And he (Oropesa) killed him
," lamented Guzmán, who spoke to the sister network of Noticias Telemundo as police search for the suspect who disappeared in the woods after breaking into his neighbors' property on Friday and killing the five victims with shots in head with an AR-15 “execution-style” rifle.
The crime occurred in the small, largely rural city of Cleveland.
Daniel Enrique Laso, 9, is the youngest victim of the massacre that occurred in Texas. Courtesy Cleveland Independent School District.
/ TODAY
According to police, Oropesa became enraged when her neighbors complained that she woke their baby while shooting on their property.
Sixteen members of the Guzmán family – eight adults and eight children – were in the home at the time, according to authorities.
"My son died defending his mother," said his father, Wilson García.
[The Latino who lost his wife and son in the Texas massacre explains what caused the shooting and how he was able to survive the killer]
The boy's mother, Sonia Argentina Guzmán, 25, also died.
Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18;
Diana Velázquez Alvarado, 21, and Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, are the other victims identified by the police.
It is believed that all were originally from Honduras.
Guzmán survived the shooting by hiding in a closet with his wife and son, from there he called 911 several times, he said.
"He was very affectionate"
His nephew was only 3 years old when his parents brought him to Texas "to have a better future," he lamented.
"He was a magnificent boy."
When the shooting ended, Guzmán came out of hiding and saw his nephew fatally wounded, he said.
"Despite everything, I thought my nephew would survive
," he lamented.
"He was writhing on the ground and I was like, 'My God, he's still alive.'"
"Justice will come": the wish of the mother and grandmother of two of the victims of the shooting in Texas
May 1, 202300:48
Guzmán also looked at his sister's body.
"Seeing her as I saw her, it's incredible," he recounted.
"I still think that maybe she's going to call me, that I'm going to see her again and that she would be as always, strong and supporting us in everything."
According to him, she was the tie that united the family.
She “she was the best sister.
She supported us in everything, absolutely in everything ”
, she affirmed.
She said she sacrificed everything for a life in the United States and her mother, who still lives in Honduras, had not seen her in 10 years.
[The alleged murderer of 5 Latinos in Texas had been deported four times from the US]
“Everyone comes here with a plan, with a goal,” Guzmán said.
“Now my mother is going to see my sister, but in the worst way.
She is going to see my nephew in the worst light ”.
His nephew, he said, was like a son to him.
"We were very close all our lives, since he was born," she said.
“It took him where he wanted to go.
After school, he liked to come and play with my son.
As soon as he got home, he came to play with my son.
He was always there waiting.
And now..."
The alleged murderer of five Latinos in Texas "could be anywhere", according to the police
April 30, 202301:59
"He was very affectionate, with his brothers, with everyone,"
he continued.
“He never looked for trouble.
He was always very affectionate ”.
Casarez, another of the fatalities, "was like a brother to me," added Guzmán.
[At least five Hondurans die in a shooting that occurred in a house in Texas]
In an interview with The Houston Chronicle, Guzmán explained that the family was originally from the tropical city of La Misión, in the Comayagua region, and that they were drawn to East Texas in part because the lush green of the area reminded them of home.
