Conservatives have used details about the alleged victim’s personality, as well as false information about it, to further their assaults on trans people and immigrants in the wake of a Sunday shooting that left two people injured at the Houston megachurch.
The shooter was constantly identified as a female, but police have revealed that she previously used both male and female aliases. She was also the biological mother of a baby who was critically hurt in the shooting, according to police. They also revealed that she had produced racist works that officials believe may be connected to a family disagreement and that the label on the gun that was used read “Palestine.”
The gunman was a trans woman, and this aspect of her personality was connected to the attack, according to inaccurate claims made by aliases, despite the fact that law enforcement is also working to determine the motive.
These claims have been amplified by some on the right, including politicians and critics, who use them to indicate that this act of violence was an illustration of the danger they assert trans people pose. Additionally, some conservatives emphasized the gunman’s history as an El Salvadorian refugee and used this knowledge to criticize immigrants.
Focusing on the gunman’s identity may have helped Republicans deflect attention away from the topic of gun control and the need for more weapons rules in the midst of another terrifying killing while also advancing their lifestyle war messaging.
It’s a reaction reminiscent of the traditional response to the Nashville school shooting in 2023, when well-known GOP pundits also cited the shooter as transgender in order to reaffirm unfounded assertions about how dangerous trans people are. And it demonstrates how the GOP’s communications strategy is increasingly using this tactic.
Benny Johnson, a liberal critic, for instance, made the connection between the shootings in Lakewood and Nashville and Denver, where transgender people were the shooters. These incidents, according to Johnson, are proof that “the modern LGBTQIA+ movement is radicalizing activists into terrorists.”
It’s important to inquire about the circumstances surrounding any mass shooting and how various social activities or policy decisions may have played a role. However, given the shooter’s public viewpoints and lack of information regarding her motivations, as well as the blatant factual errors surrounding her, this right-wing response seems to be nothing more than a political ploy to capitalize on the tragedy.
The GOP response is also timely given that Republicans have pushed a wide range of rigid anti-immigrant and trans-national guidelines both at the national level and in states across the nation. Their statements indirectly imply that the Houston shooting serves as evidence for the justification of such tough policies.
What is known about the killing at Lakewood Church?
Law enforcement is also looking into the cause of the attack and has yet to reveal a motive.
However, it has been proven that a 36-year-old woman entered Houston’s Lakewood Church, one of the biggest megachurches in the nation and run by well-known televangelist Joel Osteen, about 2 p.m. local time on Sunday, before an evening service.
The girl, who resided in a neighborhood about 50 miles from the religion, was accompanied by her 7-year-old son and started firing an assault rifle as soon as she entered the structure. Two off-duty police officers who were serving as the church’s personal security at the time shot and killed the think. Two people were hurt, including the alleged victim’s 7-year-old son, who was fatally shot in the head but whose identity is unknown. The shooter’s child is still being treated at the hospital in critical condition. The various victim was a 57-year-old man who was shot in the knee and is currently recovering well.
According to police records, the suspect’s mother had recently attended Lakewood services. The gunman was lawfully able to obtain a firearm and had used it to threaten family members and relatives despite having an arrest history and several prior arrests, according to law enforcement. The suspect had been placed under emergency incarceration in 2016, according to an Associated Press report.
The Palestine badge and the racist works that were discovered are not well known. Police have suggested that the shooter may have had a dispute with her ex-husband’s community, some of whom are Jewish, because she reportedly went through an controversial divorce.
The proper is making political attacks by claiming the gunman’s identity.
Republicans have launched rhetorical and plan attacks against immigrants and trans people in recent months, with this firing serving as their most recent effort to do so.
Anti-trans attacks across the nation have focused on treating trans people as a menace to children’s sports and female ‘ locker rooms, as well as treating health care, according to Nicole Narea and Fabiola Cineas of Vox. Laws limiting children’s exposure to gender-affirming treatment have been passed in at least 19 states across the nation.
Republicans have also been concentrating on criticizing immigrants and calling them a part of an “invasion” of the United States, claiming that unregulated immigration may lead to an increase in the entry of criminals and gang members into the nation and abuse of public services. Similar to how both Republicans and Democrats have
backed Israel’s military action in response to Hamas ‘ attack on October 7th, there has also been criticism of those who support Arab right in Congress, including rebukes.
Democrats have attempted to take advantage of people’s concerns about transgender people and immigrants by focusing on these groups, and they have suggested that their policies are intended to shield their citizens from these individuals and their deeds. Republicans tried to use the Houston shooter as a practical example of the problems their policies are supposedly trying to protect people from by citing some of her traits.
In doing so, many were adamant about disclosing the shooter’s alleged background information, posting false information like Sen. Marco Rubio ( R- TX ) on Twitter, which was formerly known as “Twitter”:” Church shooters were immigrant women who apparently identified as men and had’ Palestine ‘ sticker on the rifle.”
The gunman was identified as transgender and as an El Salvadorian immigrant, according to critics like Johnson and the group behind the liberal social media account @LibsofTikTok.
The shooter of the Gay religion in Texas was an El Salvadorian immigrant. She has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2005. She was even a Bernie admirer, had a “free turkey” sticker on her weapons, and identified as trans.
This story is going to vanish really hard.
H/t … pic.twitter.com/BHjvb6MVz9
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 12, 2024
As officers clarified, the sniper in the Lakewood Church event is not transgender. Some liberal media outlets, including Fox News, altered their frame of the killing in response to this statement, though others seem determined to illustrate this point as a way of amplifying their critiques of trans people and the other groups the shooter truly belonged to.
