HOUSTON (CN) — Houston police on Monday identified a woman killed by law enforcement officers in a megachurch Sunday and said they had found some of her "antisemitic writings" that could point to a motive.
Wearing a trench coat, carrying an AR-15 style rifle with a “Palestine” sticker on its buttstock and accompanied by her 7-year-old son, Genesse Moreno, 36, walked into a hallway of the 16,000-seat Lakewood Church around 2 p.m. on Sunday after confronting an unarmed security guard as congregants arrived for a Spanish-language service.
She immediately started firing in the hallway and two off-duty officers working side security jobs at the church — a Houston policeman and a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent — returned fire, according to Chris Hassig, commander of the Houston Police Department’s Homicide Division.
Moreno, who also went by the name Jeffrey Escalante and had a history of mental illness, yelled that she had a bomb strapped to her, though no explosives were found on the scene, said HPD Chief Troy Finner.
At a press conference Monday, Hassig gave a blow-by-blow account of the shootout between Moreno and the two officers.
“Multiple shots are exchanged by all three,” he said. “She eventually falls to the ground. The 7-year-old child falls to the ground as well from gunfire, one gunshot wound to the head... He is in critical condition at this time."
At 2:07 p.m. Moreno was pronounced dead by Houston Fire Department paramedics.
Authorities also found a .22-caliber rifle in her backpack.
Despite her use of a male alias, Moreno never identified as a man, Hassig said, citing law enforcement interviews of people close to her and Houston police reports.
Hassig said Houston police put Moreno under an emergency detention order in 2016, and her family members confirmed under questioning that she struggled with mental illness.
The homicide division commander also divulged a possible motive related to "antisemitic writings" investigators found but gave no further details.
“We do believe that there was a familial dispute that has taken place between her ex-husband and her ex-husband’s family,” Hessig said. “And some of those individuals are Jewish. So, we believe that that might possibly be where all this stems from.”
Officers from numerous agencies, including the FBI and Texas Rangers, executed a search warrant at Moreno’s home in Conroe, a northern Houston suburb, early Monday morning.
The nondenominational Christian Lakewood Church is led Joel Osteen, a televangelist and best-selling author, who has vastly expanded its reach since his late father founded it in 1959, broadcasting his sermons to more than 100 countries.
The church’s worshippers donate millions of dollars each year to it. And Osteen has been criticized for preaching a “prosperity gospel” in which he frequently says God will reward pious Christians with wealth and good health.
Each week more than 40,000 congregants attend services in the building, which was once a sports arena and home of the Houston Rockets, and is next to a bustling highway.
When they heard the gunfire booming in the church Sunday, churchgoers hid in closets and shielded themselves behind pillars, local media reported.
Authorities said Moreno also sprayed something as she entered the church.
Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña put to rest any concerns about that at Monday’s press conference. He said testing by a hazmat team had revealed the substances were benign, common household products.
Doug Williams, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston field office, thanked the officers who charged into harm’s way: “Without them the casualties would have been much higher… There is no doubt they saved lives."
A 57-year-old man was also shot in the leg and is recovering after a stint in the hospital, police said.
Houston police asked anyone with information about Moreno to call their homicide department at 713-308-3600 or the Crime Stoppers of Houston tip hotline at 713-222-TIPS.
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