Shooting at Joel Osteen’s church

Shooter was a schizophrenic mental health sufferer that the GOP likely wanted to kick off of healthcare.

The shooter who opened fire in a Texas megachurch on Sunday had legally purchased the firearm despite having a past criminal record and a history of mental illness.

The Lakewood church is run by the prominent evangelical Christian pastor Joel Osteen.

Police identified the shooter as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, the Associated Press reported. The Houston police chief, Troy Finner, said Moreno had a “mental health history that is documented”, the New York Times reported. Moreno had previously been placed under an emergency detention for a mental health emergency in 2016, according to the AP.

Moreno’s mother-in-law said Moreno had been taking medication for schizophrenia, according to a Facebook post.

Shooter at Joel Osteen church bought weapon legally despite history of mental illness

 

I thought those were your thoughts, but I guess not, copied from the Guardian article. I would say though Texas law states it illegal to purchase within 5 years of a felony, I guess the 22 charges should have been amped up to a felony then it would have been illegal for it to purchase a gun and made it just slightly more difficult to get one.

 

Gotta give you credit man. Fire rule of the con is always stay in the con. Only you can take a Bernie sanders and Hamas supporting career criminal that presented herself as a male when arrested as a product of the GOP. Gotta stay in the con. Gotta stay in the con.

 

So what you're saying is that you're fine with a system that allows a person with a history of serious mental health problems to purchase firearms since you're referring to criticism of that system as a "con" and whether you're willing to admit it GOP politicians have consistently opposed changes to that system. Got it.

 

You might should familiarize yourself with the Texas gun laws. If serious mental health issues had been the issue and treated or it spent time in an institute the law would have stopped the legal purchase.

 

Obviously a trans issue

 

It may not actually. I’m one of the biggest gun guys on the forum, and this looks to be the issue I’ve flagged in previous gun threads on here as one that I think most people may support fixing.

The mental health prohibition in federal law (and I’m not aware of Texas having a more restrictive one) makes you a prohibited person if you have been either “adjudicated mentally defective” (essentially either incompetent to stand trial or found insane in a criminal trial) or “committed to a mental institution” (effectively involuntary commitment, and it does not include observation holds or voluntary admissions). That means that checking yourself into a mental institution, or agreeing to be committed to a mental institution, doesn’t make you a prohibited person - only being ordered committed does.

Yes there are serious due process implications and a need to make sure we are not discouraging people from seeking mental health treatment that need to be taken into account with changing that. But I don’t think there’s much disagreement that people affirmatively diagnosed with at least some severe mental illnesses, and who have been institutionalized, probably ought to be prohibited persons regardless of whether their commitment to a mental institution was involuntary or not.

Unfortunately we can’t ever get legislation that cleanly fixes that particular issue. Instead all of the proposals either greatly expand the mental health prohibition beyond that in ways that are less agreeable, or bundle it with a bunch of other more controversial changes.

 

They shot the kid too?

 

Yes, in the head.

 

For those of you who are still confused about the shooter's gender, the report of Genesse Ivonne Moreno being a transwoman who was born a male is misinformation that was first and falsely reported by Fox News then ignorantly and irresponsibly repeated by other right wing media. That false report has been corrected or redacted according to at least 2 LGBQT friendly sites.

The shooter is a divorced schizophrenic woman according to her ex husband, Enrique Carranza III who said she became abusive soon after they married, confirming reports she was violent, dangerous, and mentally ill. Their child custody battle and contentious divorce was finalized in 2022.

More facts about this crime, the woman, and the names of the two off duty policemen who acted as security and shot the boy are cobbled together from several sites linked below.

Suspected Lakewood Church shooter Genesse Moreno had criminal history, mental health issues, documents say

"Carranza described being physically battered by his wife, whom he referred to as "Jeffrey." He said she would "hit me with keys" and "cans of beans." He said she "ripped a layer of my eye out once" because of impatience with the "interview process" for his job prospect and that she "also stalked me, getting me fired from jobs."

"During a three-week Christmastime visit in 2019 with his estranged wife and their son, Carranza said Moreno "called the cops on me twice and both times she had a gun and my son in her hand," according to his affidavit.

"'She is a diagnosed schizophrenic and [Child Protective Services] has told her that she cannot have a gun,' he said. 'I am afraid of her having my address. She has guns and she brags about it while having my son in the car.'

"'I strongly believe because of my wife's schizophrenia, she does not have the capacity to discern reality from fiction,' Carranza's affidavit said, adding 'she is irrational and unstable' and 'grabs the baby by his arm to pull him where she is to where his shoulder is out of socket.'"

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According to his ex mother-in-law's affidavit his former wife placed an unlocked loaded hand gun into her then 3 year old child's diaper bag and the child found it.

The same affidavit attests Moreno was involuntarily committed at least 4 times and filed a fraudulent birth certificate when her child was born. Moreno "refused" to correct it, variously telling hospital employees the father (Carranza) was "homeless" and unknown or "dead."

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According to assignedmedia.org there is no reason to believe the Lakewood shooter is transgender, despite widely repeated false news stories and rumors.

Misinformation Spreading Around Identity of Lakewood Shooter (Not Trans!) — Assigned

"It’s unclear why Genesse Moreno entered the Houston megachurch during a Spanish-language service on Sunday armed with an AR-15 with the word “Palestine” on it. She exchanged gunfire with two off-duty police officers working security at the church, and was shot dead. Moreno’s 7-year-old child, who she brought with her to the scene, sustained serious injuries (most likely after having been shot by one of the officers), and is reportedly in the hospital and “fighting for his life,” according to reporting on Chron, a news and culture website operated by the Houston Chronicle.

"The belief that Moreno was transgender seems to have stemmed in part from reports that she had at times used the name “Jeffrey” or “Jeffrey Escalante,” which has been described as a “male alias.” This alias, which seems to have been mistaken for her birth name, was combined with an ongoing far-right narrative that paints the trans community as dangerous, and the result was several false stories claiming Moreno was or was likely to have been a transgender woman. This included stories on Fox News’ website and even on the website of the LGBTQ+ Washington Blade, which have subsequently been changed."

Here’s a screenshot of the Fox News headline as it appeared in the original story:




"An archived version of the original Fox News story included multiple references to Moreno having once been "a man” including, “As a man, the 36-year-old Moreno has a criminal history including convictions for assaulting a police officer in 2009 and forgery in 2010.” Police have clarified that, despite Moreno using a male-sounding alias, they have no information that Moreno identified as a man at any time in her life.

"The Fox News and Washington Blade stories, and others, were quietly changed as more information emerged, generally without explanation or any official correction being made. Even after the change the Washington Blade’s reporting of the rumors, which it sourced to local media outlets in Houston, remains the source for a story still up on the right-leaning Washington Times that continues to falsely claim the shooter was “reportedly” a transgender woman as of this writing."

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Houston media: Megachurch shooter used male and female names

"Multiple Houston press outlets are reporting Monday morning that the woman who entered Joel and Victoria Osteen’s mega Lakewood Church in southwest Houston on Sunday armed with a long rifle previously identified as a male.

"Multiple independent sources told KHOU reporter Jeremy Rogalski that Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, who had begun firing almost upon entering was killed by two off-duty officer law enforcement officers, who were working at Lakewood Church. One is a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent who is 38-years-old with four years of service. The other off-duty officer is an Houston Police Department officer who is 28-years-old with two years of service.

"The shooter walked into the Houston megachurch with a 5(?)-year-old child while wearing a trench coat and carrying a backpack that she reportedly announced had explosives inside. Law enforcement searched her and her vehicle, no explosives were found.

"KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are reporting Moreno, who previously identified as Jeffery Escalante, had an extensive criminal history dating back to 2005, 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 and unlawful carrying weapons."

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I hope further reports of this crime will be guided by factual reports and not rumors perpetrated by people with agendas as happened with the home invasion and attack on Paul Pelosi.

 

It's an unfolding story and no doubt more information on Moreno's motives will surface. I was surprised to read Enrique Carranzo is Jewish. Even more to learn his mother, Walli Carranza has been the chief rabbi at Chesed Communauté Juive de L'Occitanie, Auch, France for the past 3 years.

She doesn't blame the off duty policeman who shot her grandson. She blames Texas Child Protective Services. The information below was supplied by the Christian Post.

Jewish grandmother says Lakewood shooter worshiped at megachurch

"Walli Carranza, a Jewish rabbi and former mother-in-law of late suspected Lakewood Church shooter, Genesse Ivonne Moreno, said she worshiped at the megachurch, and when news first broke about Sunday’s shooting, she had a suspicion that her former daughter-in-law was involved.

“'I suspected last night that this could be my daughter-in-law,' Carranza, the lead rabbi at Chesed Communaute Juive de L'Occitanie in Auch, France, told KHOU11 Monday.

"The shootout between Moreno, 36, and two off-duty police officers left Carranza’s former daughter-in-law dead while her 7-year-old grandson, Samuel Moreno-Carranza, who was shot in the head, is fighting to stay alive at Texas Children's Hospital.

"Lakewood Church did not immediately respond to questions from The Christian Post about Moreno’s affiliation with the church, but Carranza stated that she worshiped at the Joel Osteen-led megachurch, and she wasn’t sure why she chose to attack the church. Carranza speculated that her former daughter-in-law’s mental health struggles coupled with a custody battle over her son contributed to what happened."

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Walli Carranza's linkedin page reports she has a Master of Science Nursing/Midwifery degree from the University of Texas and was employed as a rabbi for 3 years, from 2017 to 2020 at the ALEPH Jewish Community in Colorado Springs.