One clergyman in Houston has reportedly decided to not remain silent in the aftermath of a shooting at Pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood megachurch on Feb. 11 which left the female shooter dead and her son with a bullet wound to the head.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the Rev. Colin Bossen at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston would like to see passage of a so-called “red flag” law which might have made it possible for would-be killer Genesse Ivonne Moreno to have been disarmed legally by court order.
The newspaper and other published reports have revealed Moreno’s disturbing background. She had a history of trouble, including involuntary institutionalization for psychiatric treatment, and arrests, but she was still able to legally purchase the guns she was carrying when she entered the church and opened fire. Two off-duty police officers fatally shot her.
Investigators recovered two rifles, an AR-15 and a .22-caliber rifle, the latter which was not used in the incident. But Moreno did fire a round that wounded a church volunteer.
On the day after the shooting, NBC News reported that Moreno’s neighbors where she lived at the time in Conroe had complained to local police about her violent behavior. She allegedly harassed neighbors and threatened them, and even brandishing a firearm.
Even Moreno’s former mother-in-law Walli Carranza said on social media Moreno should have been disarmed. Carranza told reporters she had reported Moreno’s behavior to police more than 20 times.
The Chronicle report noted that churches in the Houston area tightened their security following the incident. The two off-duty officers at Osteen’s church were there for security.
The Feb. 11 incident was reminiscent of the shooting in 2019 at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement near Fort Worth. A man opened fire killing two people before being shot dead by a volunteer security officer during a live-streamed incident.
