The shooter who opened fire at celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston before being killed by security officers had two rifles at the Texas megachurch but only used one, police said Monday. The shooter was identified as 36-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno, who had a history of mental health issues, including being placed under emergency detention in 2016, police said during a news conference.
A 7-year-old boy who was critically injured in the shooting with a gunshot wound to the head was identified as the shooter’s son, authorities said. He had been described as a 5-year-old on Sunday. Officials said it wasn’t clear who fired the shot that hit the child.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said the boy was “fighting for his life.” “What we need to do for him is pray,” Finner told reporters.
A motive for the attack that sent worshippers rushing for safety in between busy services on Sunday remains unclear, officials said. The shooter used an AR-15 rifle in the shooting that was purchased legally in December, Houston Police Commander Christopher Hassig told reporters.
“There was a sticker on the buttstock of the rifle that stated Palestine,” Hassig said. He also said investigators believe the shooter acted alone, wasn’t part of a larger group and has used multiple aliases.
Police recovered antisemitic writings in their investigation and believe there was a dispute between the shooter’s ex-husband and the ex-husband’s family, some of whom are Jewish, Hassig said.
CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV cites court documents as saying Morena once attended Lakewood, as did her mother, and church staff may have been questioned about Morena during contentious divorce proceedings in 2022.
Hassig said the shooter also had a .22-caliber rifle in a bag that wasn’t used in the shooting.
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A 57-year-old man was also wounded in the shooting and has been released, Finner said.
The shooter arrived at the church in a vehicle, pulled the boy out of it, and confronted an unarmed security guard before entering the building, Hassig said.
The shooter entered a hallway inside the building in a trenchcoat and started to fire before an off-duty Houston police officer and a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent working church security fired back, police said.
“Multiple shots are exchanged by all three,” Hassig said.
The shooter didn’t make it inside the church’s sanctuary, he said.
A livestream from the church captured the moment gunshots could be heard just ahead of a Spanish-language service.
The shooter threatened having an explosive, but the bomb squad didn’t find anything, police said.
“It could’ve been a lot worse,” Osteen told reporters during a news conference after the shooting.
An affidavit seeking a search warrant for a home in Conroe, about 40 miles north of Houston requested FBI assistance in retrieving any data from electronic devices found in the home.