The young boy who was critically injured in a shooting at a Texas megachurch on Sunday was the son of the shooter, authorities said Monday.
Police identified the shooter as 36-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno, and said Moreno had a history of mental illness, including being placed under emergency detention in 2016. Investigators had not yet established the shooter’s motive.
Moreno used an AR-style rifle before being killed by off-duty officers working security at celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church.
Police said Moreno’s son remained in critical condition on Monday with a gunshot wound to the head. The boy was initially described on Sunday as a 5-year-old.
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Moreno was killed after pointing the weapon at the security officers, the affidavit said.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner at a news conference Sunday said the shooter wore a trenchcoat and backpack and was armed with a long rifle when they entered the church.
Moreno began shooting before being confronted by two off-duty officers — a Houston police officer and a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent, who returned fire, Finner said.
Finner said the shooter told officers after being shot there was a bomb, but a search found no explosives. The declaration of a bomb was also noted in the search warrant affidavit, which said the shooter had a “yellow color rope and substances consistent with the manufacture of explosive devices."
Finner and other authorities at the scene praised the officers, who have not been identified, for taking down the shooter. Moreno “had a long gun, and it could have been worse,” Finner said. “But they stepped up and did their job.”
It was unclear how the boy, who was taken to a Houston children’s hospital, was struck by gunfire. When asked whether the boy was shot by one of the off-duty officers returning fire on the suspect, Finner said he did not want to speculate but added: “That suspect put that baby in danger.”
Osteen, 60, took the helm of Lakewood Church after John Osteen, his father and the church’s founding pastor, passed away in 1999. The church has grown dramatically under his leadership. Osteen is a leader of what is known as the prosperity gospel, a belief that God wants his followers to be wealthy and healthy. He is the author of several best-selling books, including, “Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential.” His televised services reach about 100 countries and renovating his church’s arena cost nearly $100 million.
Lakewood is regularly attended by 45,000 people weekly, making it the third-largest megachurch in the U.S., according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. The church's central campus is a renovated building once known as The Summit, or Compaqu Center, the former arena home of the NBA's Houston Rockets.
