On Friday, a man in Cleveland, Texas, killed five of his neighbors after they complained about him firing an AR-15 on his property late at night. On Sunday, with the shooter still at large and “zero leads” as to his whereabouts, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the victims weren’t so innocent either.

Law enforcement officers were searching for a “fugitive who is in the country illegally,” Abbott said in a statement promoting a $50,000 reward for any information leading to his capture. The gunman, Francisco Oropeza, had “killed five illegal immigrants in a shooting Friday night.”

That Oropeza is not a legal resident is not the most pertinent detail in a story about a guy shooting a high-powered firearm in his yard, and then shooting the people who asked him to stop. But it’s pretty obvious what Abbott is going for; Republicans and plenty of Democrats have spent years depicting undocumented residents as a violent and criminal class threatening peaceful communities. It is a cheap shot and a […]