TX Gunman Kills Five, Including Child, With America's Favorite Freedom Maker, The AR-15

We should never consider this normal.

Wilson Garcia and his wife Sonia Guzman were trying to keep their baby asleep Friday night, but his Cleveland, Texas, neighbor Francisco Oropeza was shooting his gun in his yard, which is both distracting and terrifying. Garcia politely asked Oropeza to stop, but Oropeza — with all the swaggering bravado a gun provides — refused: His yard. His rules. (This is not actually true. Even Texas has some minimal rules about firearm discharge on private property.)

Garcia threatened to call the police, and Oropeza, who'd reportedly been drinking, went inside his house and returned with a AR-15 — the weapon of choice for mass shootings. He walked over to Garcia's home and shot and killed Guzman, who'd just called the police and was standing in the front door. The massacre continued, as Oropeza fatally shot four other people "almost execution stye" inside the home.

A devastated Garcia said in an interview: "He wanted to kill us all to leave no evidence."

One of the survivors of Oropeza's rampage told Edgar Sandoval at the New York Times how Oropeza shot his sister, nephew, and other loved ones. He hid his wife and their six-month-old in a closet. Sandoval tweeted, "He left Honduras 5 yrs ago to escape gang violence & found himself victim of America’s gun epidemic."

Sonia Guzman was 25. The FBI has identified the other victims as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Juliza Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and eight-year-old Daniel Enrique Laso.

“A man who survived the #clevelandtexas shooting told me how he saw the gunman shoot his sister, nephew & other relatives & he pulled his wife & 6 mo old into a closet. He left Honduras 5 yrs ago to escape gang violence & found himself victim of America’s gun epidemic @nytimes”

— Edgar Sandoval 🪐 (@Edgar Sandoval 🪐) 1682816360 

PREVIOUSLY:

 Guns, Guns Everywhere But Never A Shooter Who Thinks 

 Well-Regulated POS Fatally Shoots 20-Year-Old Woman Who Pulled Into His Driveway 

 Kansas City Confirms It Is Crime To Shoot Black Teenager Who Rings Your Doorbell 

 Only A Sick Culture Worships Guns 

Oropeza was still at large as of Sunday. Local police say he could be anywhere! He is considered "armed and dangerous," which unfortunately applies to far too many well-regulated citizens with their freely available death machines. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott seized on the chance to note that Oropeza and his victims were allegedly in the country illegally. Diana Velazquez Alvarado was actually a permanent legal resident, but Abbott isn't one to let facts get in the way of his inhumanity.

“@GregAbbott_TX This is despicable. I would have thought bringing up the immigration status of the innocent victims of this senseless violence would be beneath even you. But I was wrong.”

— Greg Abbott (@Greg Abbott) 1682889323 

After another regularly scheduled mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, Rep. Tim Burchett from Knoxville appalled decent people everywhere with his nihilistic remarks about gun violence: "We're not gonna fix this." CNN's Jim Acosta reminded Burchett about these stupid words he'd said out loud during an interview Saturday. 

“What a fucking farce: A sitting US Congressman from Tennessee tries to blame godlessness and “freedom” for gun violence, saying it’s not his job to fix this crisis and it’s too late anyway because 3D printers. Enjoy your mayhem, America!!!”

— Shannon Watts (@Shannon Watts) 1682817904 

"You like to speak plain English to folks," Acosta said, "but a lot of people listen to what you said and say it is your job to fix [gun violence] and it's unacceptable to have mass shooting after mass shooting after mass shooting. Why not fix this? Get together with the Democrats and get it done."

Burchett claimed he was "probably speaking more from a Christian perspective." He added, "We need a real revival in this country. I feel like we've turned away from the Lord. I know that maybe that makes people's heads spin off when they hear somebody like me say that ..."

Yes, because it's absurd. As Acosta points out, Christianity exists in other countries without rampant, escalating gun violence. Meanwhile, in America, there are mass shootings occurring in Republican-run states where white evangelicals have an anti-democratic chokehold on government. The only people showing up with guns at drag queen story hours and brunches are the supposed "Christians."

Burchett said those other countries "don't have our freedom." How exactly is he defining freedom? You can't take your kid to a drag story hour but you are free to hide your kid in the closet from a homicidal, gun-toting maniac.

From the New York Times:

Mr. Garcia said he went to a family member’s house to hide. But then he returned to his home.

“I came back for my two children,” he said. “They were hiding in the closet. The two women protecting them when they died — they were hugging them.”

According to Carlos Ramirez, Mr. Garcia’s brother, the two women who were killed were shielding a 6-week-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, who survived.

Texas Republicans have promoted legislation restricting    reproductive rights,   gender-affirming care, and drag performances. These are not people who value freedom to a fault. They just thrive politically on fear and mayhem, no matter the human cost.

[ New York Times ]

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