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Longtime Lakewood Church member: ‘Our hearts are very heavy’
Rhonda Jenkins discusses Sunday’s shooting at the Houston megachurch on ‘Fox News @ Night.’
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The 7-year-old boy shot at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church earlier this month is fighting for his life after multiple surgeries to his brain and skull, according to his grandmother.
Shooter Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, entered the Houston megachurch around 2 p.m. with her own son, Samuel Moreno Carranza, before opening fire with an AR-15. The young boy and another man were critically wounded at the scene.
The boy’s grandmother, Walli Carranza, wrote in a Wednesday Facebook post that “half of his right skull [now] has to be surgically removed during two surgeries done in less than 24 hours.”
LAKEWOOD CHURCH HOLDS HEALING AND PRAISE SERVICE A WEEK AFTER FATAL SHOOTING
“He was in cardiac arrest multiple times and no one can determine whether he has significant brain activity because his scalp tissue is too friable to allow the attachment of EEG wires,” the boy’s grandmother wrote.
Moreno’s second victim, a 57-year-old man, was shot in the leg but was in stable condition later that day, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner previously told Fox News Digital.
One of two armed, off-duty law enforcement officers working security at the church shot Moreno in a subsequent firefight – she would later succumb to her injuries.
It is unclear whether the boy was shot by his mother or the security guards trying to subdue her.
LAKEWOOD CHURCH SHOOTER IDENTIFIED AS GENESSE IVONNE MORENO; ‘PALESTINE’ WRITTEN ON GUN
The Lakewood Church shooting suspect has been identified as Genesse Ivonne Moreno. (Texas Department of Public Safety)
“I don’t want to speculate on that, but what I would say is if it was, unfortunately, and that female, that suspect put that baby in danger, I’m going to put that blame on her,” Finner said during a press conference last week.
After Moreno “went down,” Finner said, the officers at the scene quickly searched her backpack and vehicle for explosives due to earlier threats she’d made.
NEIGHBORS OF LAKEWOOD CHURCH SHOOTER DETAIL YEARS OF ‘HELL,’ POLICE INACTION: ‘ONLY A MATTER OF TIME’
“My faith tradition demands of me compassion, and I have it for my deceased daughter-in-law,” the boy’s grandmother wrote in her post. “She has schizophrenia and, now we know, anti-social personality disorder. Her brain was broken.”
The grandmother claimed that, despite more than 20 previous reports of neglect and medical abuse to child protective services in Harris and Montgomery Counties, law enforcement never intervened in the at-risk woman’s life. Previously, the grandmother claimed, guns were found in Moreno’s diaper bag, purse and car by authorities.
The bereaved woman wrote that her grandson had “no protection of his God-given right to life” because “the very same legislators who claim to be ‘pro-life’ believe that unbridled gun rights matter and the right to life does not.”
“What is the excuse for those who knew and did nothing and for legislators who refuse to allow red flag laws but do allow anyone to buy an assault weapon?” Carranza asked.
She called for legislators to “repeal the second amendment” on the grounds that “[the first] means too much to allow the second.”
Previously, Moreno’s neighbors detailed years of harassment and threats from Moreno and their unsuccessful attempts to alert authorities to her unstable condition.
A long line of cars forms outside of Lakewood Church, where Gennesse Ivonne Moreno opened fire on Feb. 11. (Photo by Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Moreno’s motivation for the shooting is still unclear. Antisemitic writings were found inside the vehicle she drove to the church, police said. Although police did not say what was written, they suggested that it may have stemmed from a familial dispute involving her ex-husband and his family – some of whom are Jewish, police say.
The word “Palestine” was written on the woman’s gun, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Moreno, who is originally from El Salvador, had a criminal history including convictions for assaulting a police officer in 2009 and forgery in 2010.
Fox News Digital previously reported that she had six previous arrests dating back to 2005, and used several male and female aliases, including Jeffrey Escalante Moreno.
LAKEWOOD CHURCH SHOOTING: WOMAN WITH CHILD IN TOW OPENS FIRE INSIDE JOEL OSTEEN’S TEXAS MEGACHURCH
Houston Police officers watch over displaced churchgoers outside Lakewood Church on Sunday following the shooting. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Members of the FBI, the Texas Rangers, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Conroe and Houston Police Departments were investigating a property Monday in Conroe, north of Houston, that was believed to be Moreno’s residence, KPRC reported.
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Investigators said they will look into how Moreno was able to purchase the two guns, one of which, Hassig said, was legally purchased in December.
Yesterday, the church held its first service since the shooting, with Osteen telling parishioners the event had caused “a lot of trauma.” Houston Mayor John Whitmire and police Chief Troy Finner were both invited on stage to speak.
Christina Coulter is a U.S. and World reporter for Fox News Digital. Email story tips to [email protected].