The woman who opened fire inside Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church threatened her neighbors and had a hateful relationship with her son, it’s been revealed.
Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, also had a history of mental illness, court documents out of Texas, further reveal – as well as trail of police encounters.
At Osteen’s fabled Houston congregation on Sunday she used an AR-style rifle to gun down two victims – one of whom was confirmed to be her seven-year-old son.
The child is in a critical condition after being shot in the head. She was killed by two off-duty cops working security.
The pair lived in a modest $247,400 four-bedroom in Conroe, where neighbors said they were regularly menaced by Moreno. Divorce records further revealed how she had a contentious split with the boy’s father, a registered sex offender.
She won custody of the ‘severely’ special-needs child – who CPS noted she ‘demonstrate[d] no attachment to’, and only referred to as ‘the boy.’
The boy’s grandmother, meanwhile, noted in an interview Monday other warning signs she said could have seen the shooting avoided.
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Genesse Ivonne Moreno – the 36-year-old Conroe woman who allegedly opened fire inside Joel Osteen’s Houston megachurch Sunday – regularly menaced neighbors with weapons and had a hateful relationship with her son, accounts from neighbors and court filings have revealed
Cops are seen Sunday at Osteen’s Lakewood Church, where cops say Moreno marched in with an AR-style rifle before gunning down two victims – including her seven-year-old son whom she brought with her
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‘She tried to run us over,’ said one neighbor of Moreno’s behavior during her four years in Conroe, during which cops and CPS were called to the domicile multiple times.
‘Her way of intimidation was to bring the gun cases in and out, crossbows,’ another anonymous community member, asking not to show her face, went on to recall.
‘She’d come out, have her gun cases, do heil Hitler, flip you off, call you the b-word, or something. It was something every day.’
Others said the woman – who ex Enrique Carranza claimed was a diagnosed schizophrenic during their divorce in 2022 – would regularly ‘swerve’ at them for kicks.
Each interviewed by Fox 26 Sunday added that in the years the family lived there, there’s been one incident with her after another, with police called several times.
Divorce records surrounding her confrontational split with Carranza supported these claims – as did arrest records dating back to 2005, for everything from drugs to theft to assault.
The documents go on to state how Carranza – who ultimately lost custody of the child – is a registered sex offender, and that their son was special needs.
They also paint a problematic picture of the alleged gunwoman, who has donated to Osteen’s church in the past, and whose motives remain largely unknown.
A harrowing video shows the moment worshippers at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church ran for cover as shots rang out in the Texas congregation
The shooter was identified as Moreno, who previously used the male alias Jeffrey and has a lengthy criminal record going back to 2005. She is seen in 2022
Moreno lived in this $247,400 four-bedroom in Conroe with her son, following a very contentious split with the child’s father, a registered sex offender
She ‘demonstrates no attachment to the child’ and calls him ‘the boy’, Montgomery County court officials wrote.
In those same records, officials wrote how CPS visited the residence and investigated the family several times, and how during those visits, agents noted how the woman ‘doesn’t make eye contact with the child’
Carranza, meanwhile, wrote that he and Moreno met in 2015 at the Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Houston where they both worked, and noted how she became ‘abusive’ soon after they married.
In those court documents, several people in the neighborhood just north of Houston made it known that they did not believe the child was safe in Moreno’s care, after city officials awarded her custody despite what appears to be a litany of red flags.
In other divorce documents, Walli Carranza, the child’s paternal grandmother, filed several affidavits as an intervener in Moreno and Carranza’s divorce.
A licensed rabbi, she focused on Moreno’s extensive mental health history and the involvement of state child welfare officials, in the ultimately unsuccessful bid to regain custody.
Investgators, meanwhile, are looking into antisemitism as a potential motive in the shooting, which Rabbi Carranza on Monday said could have been avoided.
In those same records, officials wrote how CPS visited the residence and investigated the family several times, and how during those visits, agents noted how the woman ‘doesn’t make eye contact with the child’
The filings and witness accounts paint a problematic picture of the alleged gunwoman, who has donated to Osteen’s church in the past, and whose motives remain largely unknown
‘She had a particular kind of schizophrenia that caused her to become violent,’ she said of Moreno, speaking to KHOU 11 after going through customs at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
‘She threatened her husband, my own son, and we still couldn’t get intervention,’ she continued.
‘We asked for help from CPS. … We asked for help from police and received it many times but she was still allowed to own guns,’ Carranza, who lives in France, said.
A particularly damning section of one divorce filing appears to stand up the woman’s claims, stating how during CPS’s many visitors, the suspect ‘has a history of erratic paranoid, stalking behavior and was diagnosed as exhibiting Munchausen by proxy.’
Munchausen syndrome is a psychological condition where patients pretends to be ill in order to assume the ‘sick role’ so people care for them and give them attention.
It also stated that she stored a loaded gun in her then 3-year-old’s diaper bag, while posts to the mother’s social media saw her brag about her weapons stash.
In one post to Instagram, Moreno flaunted a photo of an assault style weapon, asking her followers if anyone knew how to ‘clean an AR-15’ in the caption.
Her last video to YouTube, meanwhile, was a 7-minute statement about whether students should be social media friends with their teachers, in which she said ‘Anyone can create a social media account – it takes two minutes.
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In one post to Instagram, Moreno flaunted a photo of an assault style weapon, asking her followers if anyone knew how to ‘clean an AR-15’ in the caption
Carranza on Monday pointed to these signs – as well as evidence contained in her son’s divorce documents – as proof Sunday’s shooting could have been avoided.
‘The terror of yesterday… this didn’t just happen, there were weeks and weeks before that he must have been terrorized,’ she said.
‘The fact that she wasn’t able to kill anyone else was a blessing.’
As her son remains incarcerated in Florida for failure to register as a sex offender for an unspecified offense, she added that she’s frustrated with the Flordia legal system.
She claims it failed their family, which is at risk of losing another member in coming days as her grandson continues to receive treatment for his gunshot wound.
Heartbroken over his ongoing plight, she said she still believes he will pull through.
‘He is a fighter. He’s a small Carranza. He’s a fighter,’ she said.
She said that Moreno attended Lakewood church herself, but added that she’s unsure why she targeted it.
Moreno was previously arrested for assault, weapons, marijuana possession and forgery charges
The shooter’s mother in law on Monday pointed to her slew of arrests – as well as evidence contained in her son’s divorce documents – as proof Sunday’s shooting could have been avoided
Emergency vehicles line the feeder road outside Lakewood Church during a reported active shooter event
Carlos Gonzalez, a worship singer, hugs a fellow churchgoer after the shooting
The shooter entered the Houston church with a 5-year-old boy shortly before 2 p.m. and the child was shot and critically injured
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said officers responded to a possible shooting at the Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas , shortly after 2pm
She said the custody battle between the boy likely played a part, though her mental health was probably the main factor.
Houston police and the FBI, meanwhile, were seen searching the home in Conroe – about 50 minutes north of Lakewood Church – for signs of weapons and other weapons, after Moreno reportedly threatened churchgoers with a likely nonexistent bomb.
Moreno was said to have lived with her own mother, who, according to court documents, helped her ‘complete, file and falsify a birth certificate’ to say her son had only one living parent.
She also had a lengthy criminal record going back to 2005, including charges of assault, weapons, marijuana possession and forgery charges. She also had a history of mental illness and was held in an emergency detention order in 2016, police said Monday.
They also revealed they found anti-Semitic writings and that Moreno appeared to have issues with Jewish relatives
‘We do believe that there was a familial dispute that has taken place between her ex-husband and her ex-husband’s family, some of whom are Jewish,’ police said in a press conference.
Moreno used several identities under both genders and it’s unclear what gender she identified as.
Despite the sordid history, Texas officials revealed on Monday that Moreno was able to legally purchase the assault rifle in December.
Police were seen outside Moreno’s home in Conroe, Texas, after the shooting
Moreno entered the megachurch with the seven-year-old boy just before a Spanish-language service was set to begin. She was wearing a trench coat and backpack, and carrying a yellow rope that ‘appeared to be a detonation cord.’
She sprayed ‘some type of substance on the ground’ and started firing before two off-duty cops who were working at the megachurch shot her dead, police said.
The child was also critically injured, and is not expected to survive the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office told the Houston Chronicle. Police said on Monday they believe she is the biological mother of the child, who was shot in the head.
A 57-year-old bystander was shot in the leg during gunfire exchange but is expected to recover.
Images from the scene of the shooting show the chaotic moment terrified congregants run to safety after hearing several shots fired.
Police Chief Troy Finner added that a 28-year-old Houston police officer and a 38-year-old agent with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission returned fire, neaturalizing the threat.
Moreno allegedly claimed she had a bomb, but officials did not find anything in her backback or car.
A woman in a trench coat entered the Houston megachurch of celebrity pastor Joel Osteen and started shooting Sunday afternoon and was killed by two off-duty officers working security, police said
Osteen said the shooting could have been much worse if it had happened during the larger 11am service
He praised the officers for quickly confronting the woman, adding, ‘She had a long gun, and it could have been a lot worse.’
The 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.
It was not clear where Osteen was at the time but he joined police at a news conference afterward and said the church is ‘devastated.’
But he added that the shooting could have been much worse if it had happened during the larger 11am service.
Cops investigation into the incident remains ongoing. Both victims’ condition, as of Tuesday, remains unkown.