US Police Investigates Pro-Palestine Shooting At Megachurch Of Pastor Osteen; 1 Killed, 2 Injured

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

HOUSTON, USA (Worthy News) – An investigation was underway Monday after a pro-Palestine person clad in a trench coat and accompanied by a child opened fire in a crowded Texas megachurch before she was gunned down by security, officials said.

Police were seeking answers to the motives behind the Sunday shooting at pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, which has one of the nation’s largest congregations.

However, the preliminary reporting indicated that the message “Free Palestine” was written on the rifle; investigators said later it was just “Palestine.” The shooting comes amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, that have sparked protests and attacks across the world.

The shooter, who police identified as 36-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno, was fatally shot by off-duty officers. No one else at the church died, witnesses said.

Preliminary reports indicated the shooter was transgender, but in a Monday news conference, investigators identified her as a woman and the biological mother of the 7-year-old child.

Moreno entered the church at 1:55 p.m. local time Sunday wearing a trench coat and a backpack and carrying an AR-15-style rifle, police said.

Officers said they are still investigating how Moreno obtained the gun. Moreno fired multiple rounds upon entering a hallway of the megachurch located on Houston’s busy Southwest Freeway. Two off-duty officers shot the shooter, who died on the scene, according to authorities.

CHILD SHOT

The child was also shot in the head and is in critical condition at Texas Children’s Hospital, but authorities have not said who shot him. Another 57-year-old man — identified in the affidavit as Tom George Thomas — was shot in the leg by Moreno. Officers said on Monday afternoon that he had been released from the hospital.

The shooting shocked Pastor Osteen, who presides over services attended by tens of thousands. He told the media that the shooting had left him “in a fog.”

Services at the church are regularly attended by 45,000 people every week, making it the third largest megachurch in the U.S., according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Osteen’s televised sermons reach about 100 countries.

“We’ve been here 65 years, and to have somebody shooting in your church?” Osteen said at a news briefing with police. “We don’t understand why this happened. We’re going to pray for that… boy, and pray for the lady that was deceased and her family and all, and the other gentleman.”

Moreno threatened that she had a bomb, so officers searched her vehicle and backpack but did not recover any explosives, police said. They continued a search of the church, which seats more than 16,000 people, on Sunday afternoon.

Officers also said the shooter was spraying an unidentifiable substance, prompting them to call upon the Houston Fire Department and hazmat units. Fire Chief Samuel Peña said they found “nothing of concern.” He added on Monday that the substances were benign.

The shooting has underscored broader concerns about shooting at churches in the United States amid an ongoing discussion about the many weapons available in the nation.

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