Texas gunman who killed 5 captured; wife also charged

A woman said to be the wife of a man they said fatally shot five neighbors in a dispute outside of Cleveland, Texas, north of Houston, was arrested Wednesday.

Divimara Lamar Nava, 53, wife of Francisco Oropeza, was arrested on a felony charge of hindering the apprehension or prosecution of a known felon. Law enforcement authorities believe that she hid her husband in the home where he was captured on Tuesday.

Oropeza was captured Tuesday after more than 200 law enforcement officers searched from Texas to the Mexican border for him for four days.

He was found hiding underneath a pile of laundry in a closet in a house near Conroe, about 20 miles from his house where the shooting occurred, according to FBI officials.

Oropeza, 38, fired shots from his front porch last Friday around midnight. A neighbor asked him to be quiet because his 1-month-old baby was unable to sleep from the noise.

Appearing to be drunk, Oropeza took an AR-15-style rifle, went to his neighbor's house, and started shooting at the front door into the rooms, authorities said

Five people died from the shooting, including four adults and a 9-year-old. Two died trying to shield three small children who survived.

Authorities offered an $80,000 reward for information leading to Oropeza's arrest; they said he was captured as they acted on a tip.

Oropeza is from Mexico and has been deported from the US four times, according to authorities.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott called him and the five victims "illegal immigrants" in a tweet announcing a $50,000 reward for information on the suspect. His tweet received wide criticism on Twitter, and he issued an apology on Monday.

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

Law enforcement authorities said the five victims are from Honduras but didn't disclose their immigration status.

While the Texas gunman was captured on Tuesday, police in Atlanta arrested a man after a massive search on Wednesday who they said shot and killed one person and wounded four others in a hospital in midtown Atlanta.

All of the victims were women between the ages of 25 and 71, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a news conference. The woman who was killed was 39 and was pronounced dead at the scene. Three victims are in critical condition.

Deion Patterson, 24, who has a military background, opened fire at Northside Hospital, where he was attending a medical appointment accompanied by his mother, authorities said.

During the appointment, he became agitated, pulled out a handgun and allegedly started shooting, according to police.

His mother blamed the shooting on the VA (Veterans Affairs), saying he was given "messed up medication".

Patterson hijacked a vehicle and fled the scene, police said.

After getting information that the shooter may have entered Cobb County, investigators checked surveillance and traffic cameras, and found that the vehicle that appeared to be the one he was driving had entered Cobb County around 12:30 pm, Cobb County police Sergeant Wayne Delk said.

That discovery set off a massive search in the county just northwest of Atlanta.

Delk said Atlanta police recovered the vehicle in a parking garage near the Battery, a mixed-use development that is next to the stadium where the Atlanta Braves play.