Lakewood Church shooting suspect at Joel Osteen’s Houston church identified as Houston area woman, Genesse Ivonne Moreno and id as transgender, going by alias of Jeffery Escalante. Gun was emblazoned with ‘Free Palestine’ slogan and shooter had previous criminal history and a love of guns.
A woman who entered Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church on Sunday afternoon, and fired off gunfire at congregants has been identified as 36 year old Houston area woman, Genesse Ivonne Moreno, also going by the alias name, Jeffery Escalante and self identifying as a transgender male.
Genesse Moreno entered the mega church wearing a trench coat and backpack, armed with a long gun, while holding the hand of a five year old boy before firing off rounds at congregants.
Church shooter was previously committed & involved in bitter child custody dispute w/ Jewish husband
Genesse Moreno Facebook, Linkdln, Instagram account divorced & realtor
🚨 Lakewood Church shooting suspect identified as transgender woman; ‘Free Palestine’ written on gun #violentextremist
Genesse Ivonne Moreno has lengthy criminal historyhttps://t.co/eQakVoJAOK pic.twitter.com/YkVX3CLmR3— Steve Gruber (@stevegrubershow) February 12, 2024
Gun emblazoned with ‘Free Palestine’ slogan
Two off duty officers were able to take the woman down, killing her. Critically wounded was the five year old boy, inadvertently shot by the officers along with a 57 year old male congregant who was shot in the leg – who was expected to survive.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said the shooter showed up at the church in a white vehicle before entering the building from the west side of the parking lot.
Moreno and a 5-year-old boy entered the church just before 2 p.m. and that’s when police said the woman opened fire. Two off-duty officers — one with TABC and one with the Houston Police Department — opened fire, killing her, Finner said.
Finner said before Moreno died, she mentioned she had a bomb. Finner said a bomb squad searched the church and the vehicle and backpack and found no evidence of explosives.
Finner also said Moreno sprayed a substance on the ground. He said investigators weren’t sure what it was. A regard of the woman’s rifle revealed the weapon to be emblazoned with the slogan ‘Free Palestine.’
Genesse Moreno aka Jeffrey Moreno. Houston Texas.
Lakewood Church.
WE GOT THE GOODS 👇https://t.co/LXEXcGjRFS pic.twitter.com/8kqRWR3Mhj— JLR© (@JLRINVESTIGATES) February 12, 2024
Prior criminal history
Genesse Moreno who went by Jeffrey Escalante Moreno, among other aliases, originally hailed from El Salvador.
Moreno had a criminal history dating back to 2005, and previously identified as Jeffery Escalante, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety records search.
Prior arrests include failure to stop and give information, assault of a public servant, assault causing bodily injury, forgery, possession of marijuana, theft, evading arrest unlawful carrying weapon, KHOU reported.
A criminal history obtained by Fox 10 Phoenix reported that Moreno, also used the names Jeffrey Genesse Escalante and Jeffrey Escalante Moreno over the years.
Trans shooter was part of church community and had recently donated
Authorities obtained a warrant to search a home in Conroe that is believed to be associated with the shooter. The warrant allowed officials to search the two-story home as well as an attached garage, and a dark-colored sedan belonging to Moreno. No information has been provided about the items found in her home.
Previous social media posts revealed the shooter openly discussing their love of firearms during one post, while cleaning an AR-15, showing off the weapon as well.
Moreno posted under the Instagram handle, buildingwealthinc, which self described itself as: ‘Real Estate Investments. Private & Hard Money Lending Independent Broker in RE & RE Funding Hotels, Multifamily, CRE. Business Ethics Goes a Long Way. Business Ethics Goes a Long Way. www.buildingwealthinc.investments.’
Moreno also posted about giving money to Joel Osteen‘s church, and indicated that Moreno had attended and was part of that church. Moreno shared posts about a child who appeared to be in ‘her/his’ care, who is thought to be the 5 year old who was brought to the church, potentially as a ‘human shield,’ as some wondered on social media. The relationship between the child and Moreno to date remained unknown.
Sunday’s shooting happened between services at the megachurch that is regularly attended by 45,000 people every week, making it the third largest megachurch in the U.S., according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Osteen´s televised sermons reach about 100 countries.
Responding to the church shooting, Osteen posted on X, writing in part, ‘In the face of such darkness, we must hold onto our faith and remember evil will not prevail. God will guide us through the darkest of times. Together, we will rise above this tragedy and stand firm in our commitment to love and support one another.’
Retribution as motive?
The motive behind the shooting is unknown. With Click2Houston reporting, ‘Officials are investigating a wide range of possible motives given the writings on the weapon but cannot yet conclusively say what led to the shooting. They have not ruled out terrorism or hate crime related motives.’
Nevertheless social media was awash in speculation centering on the notion of person retribution:
Wrote one commentator, ‘I think, she thought she had something with Lakewood church and she gave and attended services until one day she needed help and they could not help her so she felt betrayed. That’s what I’m getting out of all this.’
Reflected another, ‘If she was trying to get help from the church and they turned their backs on her, I’m not surprised. Mega churches start getting greedy and forget about the people who put them there. That’s why Mega churches need to start getting taxed. Joel doesn’t do nearly enough for this community as he should.’
