Nearly 1 Million 'Aggressive' Killer Bees Invade El Paso Home

Hundreds of thousands of killer bees are holding one corner of an El Paso neighborhood hostage.

The swarm has existed at a home in the southeastern part of the city for some years, but the homeowner has reported that the bees have grown in number and become more aggressive. They are living in the walls of the house, Elvia Murphy told KDBC, and the bees attack when she leaves the home, which is opposite a school.

"We can't go out to the side of the house or the back of the house," Murphy told that station. "We have a nice patio in the back, but we haven't been able to get back there to even clean it out."

The woman also noted that there are neighbors around, including children and pets, who could be stung by the swarm.

A bee expert has estimated that there are nearly 1 million of the killer bees at the property, according to KFOX. An effort earlier this week to relocate the bees, which included taking out a big piece of their hive, did not solve the problem and angered the stinging creatures.

"They are maybe 20, 30 times more aggressive than regular honey bees," Pyong Livingston told KFOX. "So they swarmed us, and they started biting me all over, even with the suits."

Killer bees are officially known as Africanized bees and got that name because they are the product of crossbreeding between European and African honey bees. They originated in South America several decades ago and reached the southern United States, including Texas, in 1990.

They have since spread to other regions of the country.

"They attack intruders in numbers much greater than European honey bees…with victims receiving 10 times as many stings than from the European strain," according to the Smithsonian Institution. "They react to disturbances 10 times faster than European honey bees, and will chase a person a quarter of a mile."