Shooter at Houston Lakewood Megachurch had lengthy criminal history including weapons charges, police say

A woman who walked into a popular Texas megachurch Sunday afternoon with a long gun and her 7-year-old son opened fire before she was killed by law enforcement officers on scene. The gunfire left the child in critical condition and another man injured, officials said.

Authorities are now probing the shooting at televangelist and pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church – roughly 6 miles from downtown Houston.

The woman, identified in a search warrant as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, entered the church shortly before 2 p.m. wearing a trench coat and backpack and opened fire, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said in a Sunday afternoon news conference. Moreno, originally from El Salvador, who had a lengthy criminal record, also previously used the name Jeffrey Escalante Moreno, investigators said. The shooter was killed after off-duty police officers at the church responded to the incident. 

Police have not shared details about a possible motive in the shooting. The injured man was shot in the leg, sought treatment at a hospital and was released, Finner said Monday. The search warrant identified him as Tom George Thomas.

The gunfire unfolded while the church was “in between services” and preparing to go into a Spanish service, Osteen said in Sunday’s news conference.

“I can only imagine if it would have happened during the 11 o’clock service,” he said.

The shooting is just the latest instance of gun violence disrupting American life at places once considered safe.