Police in Houston, Texas, have identified the gunman who opened fire at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church on Sunday as Janece Yvonne Moreno, Fox News has confirmed.
Investigators said Moreno, a native of El Salvador, had a long criminal history and previously used the name Jeffrey Escalante Moreno. The gunman died after an off-duty police officer at the church responded to the incident. Police said a 57-year-old man and two children who were accompanying the gunman were injured.
Preliminary reports indicated the shooter was transgender, but at a news conference Monday, investigators confirmed that she is a woman and the biological mother of a 7-year-old child.
Moreno pointed an AR-15 at the officers, who fired at her, killing her in self-defense, according to a search warrant.
Lakewood church shooting: FBI and police raid and report Houston-area homes linked to shooter
The suspect in the Lakewood church shooting has been identified as Janece Yvonne Moreno. (Texas Department of Public Safety)
Preliminary reports also indicate that the rifle had the message “Liberate Palestine” written on it. Investigators later said it was simply “Palestine.”
Moreno, 36, had a criminal history, including convictions for assaulting a police officer in 2009 and forgery in 2010.
Officials from the FBI, Texas Rangers, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Conroe Police Department and Houston Police Department were searching a property believed to be Mr. Moreno’s residence in Conroe, north of Houston, on Monday, KPRC reported.
The shooting occurred Sunday afternoon before the Houston megachurch’s 2 p.m. Spanish-language service began.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said Moreno entered the church carrying a long rifle, wearing a backpack and a trench coat, and accompanied by a child.
A woman with her child catches fire at Joel Ostin’s Houston megachurch
The suspect Houston police say opened fire on the Lakewood church, Genes Yvonne Moreno, used multiple aliases, including Jeffrey Escalante Moreno. She has also been arrested six times dating back to 2005. (Texas Department of Public Safety/Kirk Side/Houston Chronicle, via AP)
After the gunman opened fire, off-duty police officers at the scene “engaged” the gunman and returned fire. Moreno was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities say the child was shot in the head. A spokesperson for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office told the Houston Chronicle that the child is not expected to survive.
In addition to the AR-15, a .22-caliber rifle was also found in Moreno’s possession, said Christopher Hassig, commander of the Houston Police Department’s homicide unit.
Investigators said they would look into it. An investigation is underway into how Moreno was able to purchase two guns, one of which was purchased legally in December, Hassig said.
Authorities said anti-Semitic documents were found in Moreno’s car as he drove to a place of worship. Police did not say what was written, but it may have stemmed from a family dispute involving Moreno’s ex-husband and his girlfriend’s family, some of whom police said were Jewish. suggested that there is.
Harris County Sheriff’s officers stand outside Lakewood Church in Houston on Sunday, February 11, after the shooting. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
At a news conference Sunday, Osteen thanked law enforcement and said he was “devastated” by the shooting.
“I don’t know why this happened, but I know God is in control,” Osteen said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the shooting “tragic.”
Emergency vehicles lined the feeder road outside Lakewood Church Sunday afternoon as police responded to the shooting. (Kirk Side/Houston Chronicle, via AP)
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The motive for the shooting was unknown.
Finner said the officers were wearing body cameras at the time, which will be reviewed as part of the investigation, along with the church’s security cameras.
FOX News’ Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report.
