Genesse Moreno, 36, was identified by authorities as the alleged gunman who reportedly opened fire on Joel Osteen’s megachurch on Sunday afternoon.
The shooting at Lakewood Church, which has one of the largest congregations in the nation, was the subject of a press conference held by the Houston Police Department (HPD) on Monday afternoon. They identified Moreno as the suspected shooter, who was tragically shot by security, but they omitted information about her motivation.
Authorities also addressed social media rumors about Moreno’s gender identity. Authorities did not identify her as trans during the press conference, despite information from some conservatives that she might have been.
Moreno was identified as a woman by Christopher Hassig, captain of the Houston Police Department Homicide Division, during the press event, but he also noted that she has previously used both male and female nicknames.
Houston, Texas’ Lakewood Church on April 9, 2006. Genesse Moreno was identified by authorities as the alleged shooter who reportedly started firing at the church on Sunday. Houston, Texas’ Lakewood Church on April 9, 2006. Genesse Moreno was identified by authorities as the alleged gunman who reportedly started firing at the church on Sunday. Corbis/Timothy Fadek via GettyImages“She used both male and female titles, but throughout the course of our investigation—which included speaking with people, interviews, records, and reports from the Houston Police Department—she has consistently been identified as a woman. She, her,” he remarked.
Troy Finner, the police chief, said that finding out why she was using different names is “part of the procedure,” but he would not go into more detail. Authorities have seen “discussion on social media,” he said, but officials are “just here to present the facts as we know them at this time.”
Before the press conference, liberals published information about Moreno’s gender identity.
JUST IN: A trans Bernie Sanders supporter has been identified as the gunman at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church. shocker,” said liberal pundit Collin Rugg.
A Reuters fact-check carried out in March 2023 also revealed that the majority of gunmen are cisgender men, not transgender or non-binary people. A shooting in Nashville the next year, in which four or more people were killed, was the first example of a trans shooter participating in mass shootings, according to The Violence Project’s spokesperson.
Racist works were discovered by the police
While the investigation is still “very brand-new” and that authorities will be “delving into that more,” Hassig confirmed that they had found “some antisemitic works” throughout the process.
He claimed that the analysis revealed a community conflict between her ex-husband and his family, some of whom are Jewish.
“We therefore think that this could be the source of all of this,” he said.
It is still “way too early” to ascertain the shooting’s motive, according to Doug Williams, an FBI special agent in charge of the Houston field office, during the press conference.
He added that her rifle even had a badge that read “Palestine.” Authorities think she acted on her own.
Hassig stated that Moreno “does have a mental health background that is documented through us and through conversations with family members” when HPD placed her under an emergency detention order in 2016.
According to police, she reportedly arrived at the chapel shortly before 2 p.m. on Sunday and started firing inside the hall on the western side of the structure. Additionally, two people—a 7-year-old boy and a man in his 50s—were shot. According to authorities, the child is still in critical condition in a hospital.
In the midst of the killing, Finner urged Houston residents to “hold one another up” and “watch out for each other.”
He declared, “We experience tragedies, but we’re going to recover as Houstonians from every tragedy.”
