Detectives searching the belongings of the woman who opened fired at a Texas megachurch on Sunday found “antisemitic writings” and had a sticker with the word “Palestine” pasted on one of her guns.
Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, was shot and killed by an off-duty Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent and an off-duty Houston Police officer after she entered Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston shortly before 2 p.m., KTRK reported. The 16,500-seat megachurch was between its 11 a.m. service and its Spanish language service when the gunshots rang out, as CrimeOnline reported.
Moreno’s 7-year-old son was shot in the head and “fighting for his life,” said Houston Police Chief Troy Finner, who blamed Moreno for the boy’s shooting and not the two off-duty officers who shot him.
A 57-year-old man was also hit, but he was treated and released.
Houston Police said the AR-15 Moreno used in the shooting was legally purchased in December. Investigators also recovered a second rifle, a .22 caliber, at the scene.
But Moreno’s ex-mother-in-law told KTRK that she believes Moreno shouldn’t have been allowed to buy a gun. Walli Carranza told the station Moreno was schizophrenic and had been taking medicine for the condition. Carranza also told the station about a custody battle between her son and Moreno for the 7-year-old boy.
In divorce documents, Enrique Carranza, a registered sex offender, wrote that he was afraid Moreno would harm the child, but a judge granted custody to Moreno despite a lengthy criminal history.
According to KTRK, Moreno was first arrested in 2005 and then was arrrested multiple times over the next 19 years on charges ranging from forgery to assault and theft. She was last arrested in 2022 after officers found two weapons in her car during a traffic stop. She spent two days in jail and the guns were destroyed.
According to NBC News, Moreno went by multiple aliases — both male and female — although there has been no indication that she identified as transgender.
