US police said they are continuing their search for a gunman believed to have killed five Hondurans after they asked him to stop bothering them by shooting at his home, in the latest mass shooting in the United States.

Among the victims was an eight-year-old boy who died when the suspect, apparently drunk, broke into the house near his house and proceeded to fire a semi-automatic weapon at its occupants, who had enraged him by asking him to stop practicing shooting in his garden late at night, so that he could Their child from sleeping, according to what was reported by the media.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers, north of Houston, described a horrific scene law enforcement faced when they drove to the home after receiving a call about "harassment" and a shooting Friday night.

Kuipers said they found the bodies of victims, ranging in age from 8 to 40, from the front door to an inner bedroom, where the bodies of two women were found lying on top of two dazed and traumatized children.

"In my opinion, they were trying to protect the kids to save their lives," Capers told IBC affiliate KTRK in Houston.

He pointed out that all the dead were shot "from the neck up to the head, execution style."

The sheriff's office had previously said on Facebook that police had found "several people in critical condition with gunshot wounds," three of whom were taken to hospital.

The sheriff told KTRK that the suspect "was drinking, saying 'I'm going to do whatever I want on my front lawn'."

"All the victims are from Honduras," Capers told reporters, adding that 10 people were inside the house at the time.

Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina demanded on Twitter that the gunman face the harshest punishment in accordance with the law, indicating that officials will follow the case closely.

Texas authorities announced that an arrest warrant had been issued for Francisco Oropeza, a 39-year-old Mexican national who was wanted on five counts of murder.

"We got his Mexican consular card," Capers said, adding that an alarm in the victims' home "took pictures of him approaching the front door with his weapon."

In a Facebook post, the sheriff's office said it believed the shooter had left the county, but advised residents to stay home.

There have been more than 170 mass shootings in states so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The United States, which has more firearms than the population, has the highest rate of gun deaths among developed countries, as it recorded 49,000 gunshot deaths in 2021, compared to 45,000 last year.