Two armed, off-duty law enforcement officers stopped a woman toting a gun emblazoned with “Free Palestine” from shooting up televangelist Joel Osteen’s Houston megachurch on Sunday.
Thirty-six-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno, who also went by “Jeffrey Escalante,” entered Lakewood Church around 2 p.m. wearing a trench coat and backpack with a five-year-old boy and an AR-15, according to local reports. She immediately fired an estimated 12 shots.
An armed Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officer and a Houston Police Department officer who served as campus security on the church’s busiest day quickly returned fire, an exchange captured on Lakewood’s afternoon Spanish service live stream.
Moreno was struck by the return fire and died on the scene. Both the child who accompanied Moreno and a 57-year-old bystander were also injured.
Before succumbing, Moreno doused the area around her with an unknown fluid and claimed to have an explosive, say police. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner confirmed that his bomb squad searched Moreno’s vehicle and person but did not find any incendiary devices.
It’s unclear exactly why Moreno targeted Lakewood. Harris County Judge Lina Hildalgo suggested in a statement posted to social media that the incident should be investigated as a “hate crime, given the shooting took place at an all-Spanish service.”
A “federal law enforcement source” reportedly told CNN that Moreno’s gun featured an anti-Israel statement, “Free Palestine.” That suggests the shooter could have targeted Lakewood for being a Christian organization that presumably supports the Jewish state.
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