Lakewood Church shooting: Woman with child in tow opens fire inside Joel Osteen’s Texas megachurch
Written by worldOneFm on February 11, 2024
Two people were injured and one suspect was killed during a shooting at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church on Sunday afternoon, Texas authorities say.
During a press conference, police chief Troy Finner said that the shooting began at 1:53 p.m. It happened at around the time that the Spanish language church service was scheduled to start.
The suspect, who was a woman, entered the church with a long rifle. She was wearing a backpack and a trench coat, and was accompanied by a “small child, approximately 4 to 5 years old”, Finner said.
After she began shooting, off-duty officers at the scene “engaged” the woman and returned fire. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said that two people were injured, including a 57-year-old man who was shot in the leg. The child that the shooter came with was also injured and remains in critical condition.
Finner also disclosed that the suspect mentioned that she had a bomb.
“Once she went down, officers reported back to us that she threatened that she had a bomb,” the police chief explained. “So we searched her vehicle, our bomb squad, and also the backpack [she brought].”
“No explosives were found, but she was also spraying some type of substance on the ground.”
The death of the shooter was first announced by Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez earlier that afternoon.
