By: Adam Beam 2/13/2024
The family and associates of Genesse Ivonne Moreno, the woman now identified as the deceased suspect in Sunday's shooting at Joel Osteen's Lakewood megachurch, are speaking out for the first time.
“She had a particular type of schizophrenia that caused her to become violent,” Walli Carranza, ex-mother-in-law to Moreno, told CNN. She continued, "she threatened her husband’s life, she threatened mine. She threatened to kill her own son and we still couldn't get intervention.”
“We asked for help from CPS, or Child Protective Services, family services. We’ve asked for help from the police and received it many times. But, she was still allowed to own guns.”
The shooting occurred on Sunday just before 2 p.m. service after Moreno walked into the church with a semi-automatic rifle. A shootout transpired between Moreno and two off-duty police officers. Moreno was killed by a man now identified as Agent Adrian Herrera.
Two people were injured in the crossfire, including the suspect's 5-year-old son, who is still in critical condition.
A motive is still being actively investigated by Houston police; however, antisemitism is being looked at given evidence found on the suspect at the time of the shooting. Christopher Hassig, Commander HPD Homicide, told reporters at a press conference, "We have uncovered some items, we do have some anti-Semitic writings that we have uncovered during this process."
Hassig continued, "We do believe that there was a familial dispute that has taken place between her ex-husband and her ex-husband's family, and some of those individuals are Jewish."
Houston Mayor John Whitmire also spoke at the press conference, "Every place of worship is important to the law enforcement community that stands behind me, whether it's our churches, our synagogues, our mosque, our temples, we are going to provide you protection."
The investigation into the Lakewood Church shooting is ongoing, and more details are expected to be released in the coming days.
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