Police in Houston, Texas have identified the individual who opened fire at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church on Sunday as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, an immigrant from El Salvador with a significant criminaI record.
Previously known as Jeffrey Escalante Moreno, there have been reports suggesting a transgender identity, although law enforcement officials refrained from using such terminology during a press conference on Monday.
The shooter targeted two individuals—a 57-year-old man and a seven-year-old boy accompanying her—after initiating gunfire shortly after 2 p.m. on Sunday. Off-duty police officers present at the scene engaged the shooter and exchanged fire.
Tragically, the shooter was pronounced de*d at the scene.
The young boy, identified as Moreno’s son, is in critical condition and not expected to survive, according to a spokesperson from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
Investigators revealed that Moreno arrived at the church with the child just before the start of the Spanish mass. She was clad in a black trench coat and armed with a semiautomatic rifIe, which she aimed at officers before being shot and k*lled.
During the press conference, Christopher Hassig, commander of the Houston Police Department Homicide Division, referred to Moreno as female and confirmed her history of using aliases of both genders.
Although she has used both male and female names, our investigation, including interviews and documents from the Houston Police Department reports, consistently identifies her as female. We refer to her using feminine pronouns.