Moments before nine-year-old Daniel Enrique Laso-Guzman was shot and killed, he was running to protect his mother from the shooter, his heartbroken father said.
Daniel and his mother, 25-year-old Sonia Argentina Guzman, were among the five victims of a horrific mass shooting in Cleveland, Texas this past weekend.
Daniel’s father Wilson Garcia believes his young son was trying to protect Guzman after their neighbor and suspected shooter, Francisco Oropesa, entered the home they shared and began firing his semi-automatic-style rifle on Friday evening (28 April).
“My son died because he wanted to protect his mother because seeing her fallen, he took off running to where she was,” Mr Garcia told NBC News
According to Mr Garcia, Mr Oropesa then allegedly shot at his nine-year-old son, too.
“And [the suspected shooter] had no compassion, to see a boy crying for his mother,” Mr Garcia added.
The shooting also took the lives of three other people who were at the home - Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21, Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18.
Mr Garcia told law enforcement that Mr Oropesa allegedly entered his home and began shooting after he asked him to stop shooting his gun in his yard on Friday evening.
He said the sound of the gunfire was keeping his one-month-old baby awake.
Mr Oropesa, who was said to be drinking alcohol that night, went over to his neighbour’s home and allegedly carried out the mass shooting before fleeing.
According to reports, Mr Garcia’s two other children, a two-year-old daughter, and a one-month-old baby, survived the shooting thanks to two adults who shielded the children from the suspected gunman.
Mr Garcia escaped the scene by jumping through a window. He recounted that one of the victims urged him to flee from the shooting because his other two children no longer had a mother and would need a parent.
Authorities are currently looking for Mr Oropesa and have asked the public to submit any tips or information that could lead to his arrest.
Mr Garcia told NBC News that he hopes Mr Oropesa surrenders.
“I would let him know that I hope he repents. He has a son the same age as mine, and what if somebody would’ve taken the person he loves the most, like he did to me," Mr Garcia said.
"That if he has any compassion, to reflect on what he did and that if he repents, then good, to turn himself in to authorities. Because the pain that we feel, I don’t wish it upon anybody. He took my loved one, and I don’t even wish this pain feeling that upon him.”
