The suspect, who fatally shot five of his neighbors on Friday night, is still on the run and thought to be armed. Police are using dogs and a drone in the hunt for the suspect, who is believed to be hiding in a nearby forest, according to the local sheriff's office.

The suspect, aged 38 and believed to be Mexican, is named as Francisco Oropez and has been charged with five counts of murder. He killed five neighbors, including an 8-year-old boy, after some of the victims asked him to stop practicing shooting with a semi-automatic weapon near them as they were trying to put a baby to sleep.

The victims were all from Honduras, and all had been shot "from the neck up, almost execution style, basically in the head," according to police. The shooting happened at Friday night in the small town of Cleveland, San Jacinto County, north of Houston.

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Police said they received a call about "harassment" at around 11:31 p.m. on Friday. When they reached the scene, they found several victims who had been shot. Investigators believe that the victims had asked Oropez, who it is thought had been drinking, to stop shooting, while the man replied he would do what he wanted to do in his own residence.

After both parties returned to their houses, the gunman "topped off his magazine, and walked down his driveway... into the people's house and started shooting," Sheriff Capers said.

There were a total of 10 people in the house when the attack took place, Capers said. Four adults were declared dead at the scene, and the eight-year-old died at a hospital. Five others survived. The gunman is believed to have used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8. They were all believed to be living in the house, but were not members of a single family, according to the FBI.

According to a resident in the neighborhood, the sound of gunfire was a regular occurrence: "It's normal, in this neighborhood they're always shooting. They're always calling the cops and there's nothing done for that."

Police had been called to Oropeza's house on a couple of previous occasions over complaints about the noise he was making shooting his gun in his yard, Capers said.

Firearm incidents are the top cause of death for U.S. children and teenagers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Friday's incident came days after nine people were injured at a shooting during a teenagers' party in western Texas. Four young people were shot dead during a 16th birthday party in Alabama two weeks ago.

Enrique Reina, the foreign minister of Honduras, said the Honduran consulate was in contact with the authorities in Texas.

"We demand that the full weight of the law be applied against the person responsible for this crime," he wrote on Twitter.

(With input from Reuters)