Lakewood church shooting suspect was accused of child abuse
- Genesse Moreno identified by police as Lakewood church shooter
- Moreno invested four times by CPS in years before shooting: court records
- Texas does not have 'red flag' law
Emergency vehicles line the feeder road outside Lakewood Church during a reported active shooter event, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Houston. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Testing on staging11
(NewsNation) — The 36-year-old woman who was fatally shot by security officers after walking into Lakewood Church in Texas and opening fire had previous run-ins with the law, and was accused of abusing her 7-year-old son, local media reports.
Genesse Ivonne Moreno’s son was with her when she entered the church in February and began shooting an AR-style rifle. Two people, including the boy, who was shot in the head, were wounded and remained hospitalized.
The Houston Chronicle reports, based on court records, Moreno had a history of arrests and charges with several agencies, including the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Katy Police Department. Court documents also show Moreno and her ex-husband, Enrique Carranza, had been battling over divorce and custody cases.
When Moreno’s son was born, he “entered the world allegedly with drugs already in his blood,” according to court filings obtained by KTRK-TV. At the age of five, the boy was “nonverbal, tube-fed and not toilet trained,” Moreno’s mother-in-law Walli Carranza, said in court documents, per KTRK-TV.
In a May 2022 lawsuit filed by Walli Carranza, Moreno and her mother, who she lived with, were accused of “intentionally” keeping the boy from his father.
Walli Carranza, in the lawsuit, said Moreno had “a history of constantly erratic, paranoid, stalking and mendacious behavior and was diagnosed as exhibiting Munchausen and Munchausen by proxy signs and symptoms,” according to the Houston Chronicle.
Munchausen by proxy is when a parent or guardian fabricates their child’s illness.
In addition, the suit said Moreno did not show attachment to her son and would refer to him as “the boy” or “the child” and not make eye contact with him.
“(Moreno) has been investigated four times by Child Protective Services for child abuse and neglect and was found by them to have intentionally harmed her child on at least two occasions,” the suit said.
Moreno’s former mother-in-law, Walli Carranza, told The Associated Press that Moreno had long struggled with mental illness. Carranza said she believed systemic failures and lax gun laws ultimately led to the shooting.
Texas doesn’t have what some call a “red flag” law, which generally allows law enforcement or family members to ask a judge to order guns to be taken from someone who is deemed dangerous.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.