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Charlie Sykes, a conservative commentator and editor-in-chief of the website The Bulwark, called it \"extraordinary\" that Abbott \"felt the need to do that.\"

\"This cried out for a little bit of compassion, for some leadership. Of course, we got neither of those,\" he said Monday on MSNBC.

\"Star Trek\" Actor George Takei, who was imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp for a year and a half, was one of the first on the chorus of critics to call Abbott's response \"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,\" he tweeted.

\"PHOTO:
gunviolencearchive.org
PHOTO: Fatal Gun Violence in 2023
>

Meanwhile, the manhunt for suspected gunman Francisco Oropesa, 38, is still underway.

Investigators said carnage at his hands began Friday night after neighbors asked him to stop shooting his gun in the yard of his home in Cleveland, Texas, about 50 miles north of Houston. When deputies arrived at the home, they found five victims at the property, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers told reporters on Sunday. Abbott also said in his tweet that Oropesa is \"in the country illegally.\"

The gruesome, mass shooting follows a series of attacks gun safety advocates argue illustrate the need for stricter gun laws across the country.

ABC News' Peter Charalambous, Meredith Deliso and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.

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