The shooter who injured two at Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Houston Sunday had a sticker with the word “Palestine” on the shooter’s AR-15, according to a Houston Police Department press conference Monday.
The suspect, identified as 36-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno, was wearing a black trench coat and an AR-15 with the phrase “Palestine” emblazoned on it, according to law enforcement at the press conference. Moreno allegedly walked into Lakewood Church around 2 p.m. on Sunday toting Moreno’s 7-year-old child and opened fire, injuring a 57-year-old man in the leg after getting past a security guard. (RELATED: Texas Police Respond To Reported Shooting At Joel Osteen’s Megachurch)
Police said that Moreno used multiple “aliases” and had gone by the name Jeffery but maintained that documents and interviews had identified the shooter as female. Police also confirmed that they were reviewing a series of “antisemitic” writings and noted that Moreno’s ex-husband had Jewish family, but did not give any other information on a possible motive for the attack.
UPDATE on Lakewood Church shooting investigation:
At 1:30 pm today, @houmayor Whitmire, Police Chief @TroyFinner & other agencies will have a media briefing at HPD HQ at 1200 Travis St. to update the community on Sunday’s (Feb. 11) shooting.
We will livestream here.#hounews pic.twitter.com/5qZ2dnfiZm
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) February 12, 2024
The shooter was killed by two off-duty police officers and the young child was also shot in the crossfire and is not expected to survive, according to the Houston Chronicle. A video broadcast from the church during its Spanish service shows an announcer reacting to gunfire in the background as people run away behind him.
Moreno claimed to have also left a bomb in the building and Police Chief Troy Finner claimed the individual was spraying “some type of substance on the ground” but did not disclose what it was, according to CNN. Authorities searched the church but did not find an incendiary device.
The FBI confirmed to the DCNF that they had executed a search warrant with the department “at a location on Gulf Stream Drive in Conroe, Texas,” that is related to the shooting.
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