The shooting at Joel Osteen’s Houston megachurch on Sunday ended when it did thanks to two off-duty police officers.
The two officers have been identified as a 28-year-old officer with the Houston Police Department and a 38-year-old agent with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Both officers have been in their respective jobs for less than five years.
The officers were working as security at the church when the suspect, Genesse Ivonne Moreno, entered Lakewood Church with a semi-automatic rifle and began shooting. The two confronted and neutralized the suspect and killed her before anyone else was harmed.
A man was shot in the leg and has now been released from the hospital, while the 7-year-old son of the suspect was shot in the head. It is not clear how the boy was shot. He is in critical condition in an area hospital.
Moreno entered the church between services, so the massive facility was not crowded. As reported by The Dallas Express, she entered the church after brandishing a firearm at an unarmed security guard but met the two officers just inside the entrance. Witnesses describe a chaotic scene in which it is believed that Moreno may have fired as many as 30 times. Details have yet to be released about the number of shots the officers took.
“I want to commend those officers. She had a long gun, and it could have been a lot worse,” Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said per CNN. “But they stepped up, and they did their job, and I want to thank them for that.”
Finner added that both officers are on administrative leave during the investigation, a standard police procedure any time an officer-involved shooting happens.
Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña added that the incident was traumatic for the public and the officers.
“It’s certainly traumatic for the officers who had to take a life, and we worry about their mental health as well, so our prayers are with them,” Peña said.
Moreno’s former mother-in-law, Rabbi Walli Carranza, said in an interview with ABC 13 Eyewitness News that when she heard about the shooting, something told her that her ex-daughter-in-law was responsible.
“Absolutely no anger from any of us to those officers who had to do what they did on Sunday. I was a police chaplain for many years, and there is no choice but to neutralize a situation when there is grave danger,” Carranza said, per ABC.
She claimed that Moreno was taking medication for schizophrenia and should never have been allowed to purchase a gun because of her mental health status.
