A police officer in the Hungarian gendarmerie, by 1942 Képíró was serving in the region of Bácska (Bačka) (today divided between Hungary and Serbia), which had been transferred to Hungary as a result of the Axis invasion and partition of Yugoslavia. In January 1942 raids were conducted in several parts in the region, including Novi Sad, and an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 civilians, mostly Serbs and Jews, were rounded up and killed. Képíró took part in this rounding up and later admitted playing that part in the affair. In 1944 he was put on trial, with fourteen other Hungarian army and police officers, accused of taking part in the raids. The court found that he had been implicated in the round-up, but he was not severely punished.