Police Hold Press Conference after Osteen Church Shooting

Thanks for being here. Good.

Everybody come on in. Get everybody positioned. Let us know everybody is just up and ready to go.

Good afternoon. As the mayor of the great city of Houston, I appear before you today to reassure Houstonians and our neighboring communities that our first responders were on the job providing our safety. We all know that we had a tragedy at Lakewood yesterday evening when families were coming together to worship and to prepare for America's number one sports event. We all got calls. It was a tragic scene. It's an ongoing investigation, but I can assure everyone that it is our highest priority to have total transparency. As we stand before you today, you will know what we know as we learn it. I want to speak to our diverse community. Every place of worship is important to the law enforcement community that stands behind me. Whether it's our churches, our synagogues, our mosque, our temples, we are going to provide you protection. We're increasing security, won't discuss publicly all provisions, but we're going to continue to make public safety our highest priority. (05:19) I would also like to emphasize we need to continue to be aware of mental health issues in our community. Indications that mental health played a role in an early investigation. Want to also ask the public not only keep the victims in their prayers, the suspect's family in our prayers. There was a lot of pain exhibited yesterday and being felt today. I want you to pray for the first responders. The two gentlemen that neutralized the suspect yesterday, a TABC officer, an HPD officer did not go to work yesterday morning planning to have to use their weapons. They're suffering today. They need our prayers and our counseling. And in closing, let me thank the men and women of every agency that's represented up here today, and some are out in the field. I speak quite often about collaboration of our law enforcement agencies in our community. I want the public to know, I want Houstonians to know that we have every level of government represented here today led by our fine, outstanding Chief Finner. (06:39) The scene yesterday was hectic, but people came together, agencies, all the agencies representing law enforcement in our community at the state level and at the federal level. It's an ongoing investigation, but that's the way cooperation is supposed to work. And to the Houston community. We feel as we stand before you today, the community's unity. That's what great communities do. We don't start pointing fingers. We don't worry about who's going to get credit for work. We come together. This is a great community, great people, but with the first responders that showed up at the scene and have worked all night long and have an ongoing investigation. (07:26) Let's keep our first responders. We want to assure Reverend Osteen's church that we understand the trauma that they went through. To those families, we want them to understand everybody was doing everything they could on the senior's day, the reunification of the families. We had families separated from their children. So this is what collaboration and unity and dedication to public safety provides. Let's continue to support the first responders. We'll be very transparent as we go forward. And with that message, I would like to yield to Chief Finner.

Thank you very much, mayor. Good afternoon everyone. I want to first thank all of my colleagues and that includes all the men and women on the front line. The mayor hit some points of the collaboration and the difficulty in the scene yesterday, but very proud of everybody who showed up and we got everything under control. I want to ask for prayers for a seven-year-old kid who's fighting for his life and questions came up yesterday about him, and I think that what we need to do for him is pray involved the Lakewood family and the mayor spoke on it, but I spoke to Pastor Osteen this morning and he would've been here, but his duty, his heart is with his congregation right now trying to start the healing process. And we want to pray for them and our entire community. But as I said yesterday, I'll say it again. (09:10) We go through tragic moments, but we're going to stand up as Houstonians as like we always do with any tragedy. But we wanted to come here and provide an update on the incident of yesterday. And I just want to go over a few things. A few individuals who are here, Mayor Whitmire already spoke. I'm speaking and Chief Peña will speak. The FBI SAC, Douglas Williams will say a few words. TABC director Kevin Lilly will make some remarks. The update on the actual investigation is going to come from our Commander of a Homicide, Hasek. We're going to follow up in Spanish with Commander Hector Garcia would probably just summarize everything that everybody's saying up here briefly, and then we will go to a question and answers. Also want to acknowledge the director of DPS, Gerald Brown is here, thank you. And also Harris County Sheriff, Ed Gonzalez, and our district attorney, Kim August is here as well. (10:21) If I've missed out on somebody, you let me know. But a lot of work has been conducted and just since yesterday and a lot of things are still going on, we will not be able to answer every question. Information that we do have, we'll share it with you if we can, but let's just take that into consideration. Also, want to close out by saying it's important, as the mayor said, that our community and not only religious institutions, all of our communities, we need to hold one another up in this moment, in any other moment. We need to watch out for one another and you'll see us out there more visible presence, but behind those visible presence are true relationships where we communicate every day with everybody in our community that we possibly can, and we'll continue to do that. I'm going to step aside briefly and bring up Chief Samuel Peña.

Thank you Troy, and thank you mayor for bringing this group together. I want to first extend my gratitude as well to all the agencies that participated in this incident, the ones that we collaborate on a day-to-day basis, because again, it's about those relationships that are built ahead of time that ensures an efficient response to these types of incidents when needed. Also, again, our prayers to the young child that was injured. Our community, that is suffering as traumatic for our community as well when these incidents happen. But the purpose of my briefing here today is just to allay some of the fears that may be out there in regards to any possible exposure to chemicals that may or may not have been present at the scene. (12:18) As we mentioned yesterday, in collaboration with the Houston Police, Department's Bomb Squad, our Hazmat Task force and Decontamination Task Force were on scene conducting tests on any of the products that may have been at the location. The tests were completed, the preliminary tests were completed on scene. I can safely say that there is no risk of exposure to any chemical or product that may have been present to anybody that was at the facility, at the church. Any of the first responders, anybody that came in contact or in the general vicinity, and certainly no danger to our community in terms of any Hazmat

... products. The products on their own are benign and they're common products that we would see in other applications. So I want to make sure that we communicated that to our community. There was no risk of exposure or ill effect or hazard to our community as a result of any product that was out there. And we're going to continue our partnership with law enforcement, certainly my partner in public safety, Troy Finner and his team until we complete this investigation.

Thank you.

So, I turn it back to you, Chief. Thank you.

Thank you. FBI SAC, special agent in charge, Williams. Gotcha behind me.

Thank you, Chief.

Gotcha. Thanks.

Thank you Chief. Appreciate it. I'd first like to start by thanking all of the partners who are here today for a seamless response to the incident yesterday. Good afternoon. My name is Doug Williams. I'm the special agent in charge of the FBI's Houston Field Office. Unfortunately, we've always said that it's not a matter of if an active shooter event will occur in our city, but when that win was Sunday afternoon. Just before a service at one of the largest congregations, not just in Houston or Texas, but in the United States. We are extremely thankful for the quick response of the two officers work in security at the church at the time that engaged the shooter. I think all of us here would agree that if it weren't for them, the number of casualties and victims would've been much higher. There is no doubt, there is no doubt that their heroic actions save lives. (14:41) The FBI has been assisting our partners at the Houston Police Department with the investigation of the shooting at Lakewood Church since it immediately happened. We'll continue to assist them for as long as needed. The FBI is working with HPD to follow all logical investigative leads related to the shooting. As the chief just said, it's way too early to determine a motive for the shooter's actions and we're not in the business of speculating. (15:15) Our work is based on facts and evidence and we're still in the process of collecting those facts and evidence, that process will take time. It's very common for the FBI to provide support to partner law enforcement agencies during an active shooter incident and in an immediate aftermath of a shooting. The FBI has an arsenal of local and national resources at our disposal that we can deploy. These include technical resources as well as personnel resources such as agents, investigative analysts, evidence response teams, victim service specialists, just to name a few yesterday, we deployed all of those resources and will continue to support HPD for as long as it's needed. (16:05) In the meantime, if anyone has information about Sunday's shooting at Lakewood Church that they'd like to share, we'd ask that you please contact the Houston Police Department and share the lead, as they are the lead investigative agency. Again, the FBI is assisting and we will continue to assist our partners here for as long as needed. Thank you very much.

Thank you. TABC Director Kevin Lilly. Thanks. Thanks.

Thanks. Thank you Mayor. Thank you Chief.

Thank you.

I'm Kevin Lily, chairman of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. First, I'd like to offer my sincere condolences to the congregation of Lakewood Church and to Greater Houston. As the Mayor said, our places of worship are both sacred and safe. And all Texans grieve what happened at Lakewood Church yesterday. And indeed when the sanctity of a church is violated or any house of worship, that is an attack on the very foundation of this nation. And so we are so grateful for the action of our Houston police officer involved as well as TABC agent Adrian Herrera, who were the officers on the scene and their actions working together to neutralize the suspect as the FBI said, saved lives. (17:30) The term hero has been used today and sometimes it's said flippantly, but I think what happened yesterday was the personification of heroism and valor in which a total disregard for your own safety, saving others before yourself. Chief, I was talking to a couple of your deputy chiefs yesterday, as well as some of the FBI agents and they spoke almost in great respect of the fact that these two officers held their ground. They held their ground in the face of rifle fire at point-blank range, and they continued to fire until the perpetrator was neutralized and they did not yield, and they remained there as a wall. (18:28) Agent Herrera and the HPD officer involved were a gauntlet, they were a wall that existed between worshipers and terror, between freedom of religion and murder. And we should all be mindful of the sacrifices that our men and women in law enforcement make every day, it is a profession of the highest honor. I just thought this morning that if your son or daughter came into your living room tonight and said, "Mom, dad, I want to be a cop. I want to be in law enforcement." You should receive that request with reverence and respect because these individuals place their lives on the line for us. It is an act of service unlike any other. (19:22) And so I would like to thank Chief Finner for your excellent, excellent work. I'd also like to thank our mayor. I have known Mayor Whitmire for many years and he and I don't always agree on everything politically and we've been on other sides of the fence. But I will say this, for as long as I've known him, he has always honored and respected law enforcement. Public safety ladies and gentlemen is one of the most critical things that we have. And I would say this to elected officials that want to defund police to elected officials that want to demonize law enforcement, I say they do so at their own political peril. And so we need to unify as a community to defend our men and women in the thin blue line. So I would just like to thank all of you here and to all the brave men and women who defend our city.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Commander.

Yes, sir.

Passing to homicide.

Good afternoon. I'm Christopher Hassig, commander, HPD homicide, also leader of our Special Investigations Unit. Last name H-A-S-S-I-G. (20:42) I just want to talk about the investigative steps, where we're at, what we've accomplished so far and what we're going to be doing moving forward. All right. Please be mindful, we are approximately 24 hours into this investigation. It's very fluid and the investigators under my Special Investigations Unit have been working around the clock and gathering information this entire time. (21:07) So Sunday, yesterday, February 11th at 13:53, at 1:53 PM, we had an individual pull up in front of Lakewood Church on the west side of the building off of Timmons. She gets out of her white vehicle, she opens the door, pulls out the seven-year-old child out of the backseat, as well as a bag that is with her. She goes, she confronts a security guard who lets her in along the west side of the building. (21:46) At 13:55, pardon me, 1:55 PM, she immediately starts firing inside of the hallway on the west side of Lakewood Church. She's in the hall, not in the sanctuary. Multiple rounds are fired by her, at which point Officer Moreno of the Houston Police Department working an approved extra job at the location as well as TABC Agent Herrera return fire, and the exchange is all there on the west side of the building, in the hallway. Multiple shots are exchanged by all three. She eventually falls to the ground, the seven-year-old child falls to the ground as well from gunfire, one gunshot wound to the head. Like has been mentioned earlier today. He is in critical condition at this time. And at 14:07, 2:07 PM she's pronounced deceased by Houston Fire Department personnel. (22:55) Other things that we know at this point in regards to the investigation, our shooter is identified by a driver's license as Genesee Moreno, 36 years old, Hispanic female. There are some discrepancies. We do have reports she used multiple aliases including Jeffrey Escalante. So she has utilized both male and female names, but through all of our investigation to this point, talking with individuals, interviews, documents, Houston Police Department reports she has been identified this entire time as female, she/her. And so we are identifying her as Genesee Moreno, Hispanic female. (23:44) There were two weapons of hers recovered on the scene and Anderson Manufacturing AR-15, which was what she utilized to fire at the officers. There was a sticker on the butt stock of the rifle that stated Palestine. A sticker simply stated Palestine on the butt stock. Also within the possession of, near her, what she brought in according to video and she had in a bag was a 22 caliber rifle by Blue Line Solutions. She had that. She brought that in. She did not fire that weapon. We do have her vehicle, we are in possession of that. We will be processing that and see if there is more evidence. (24:31) We want to thank our federal and state partners for their assistance in helping process the scene. We have uncovered some items. We do have some anti-Semitic writings that we have uncovered during this process. But like I said, we are 24 hours into it. It is very new. We are getting new information as the hours change, and so we are going to be delving into that more. But we do want to stress that she acted alone. We do believe this was what we term a lone wolf lone suspect situation. We do not believe this is part of a larger nexus. She's not part of a larger group or set of individuals. We believe that Genesee Moreno acted alone. (25:20) We do have some facts that she was put under an emergency detention order by Houston Police officers, we believe in 2016. We do believe that she does have a mental health history that is documented through us and through interviews with family members. And we do want to state that through our investigation, I mentioned anti-Semitic writing, we do believe that there was a familial dispute that has taken place between her ex-husband and her ex-husband's family and some of those individuals

... are Jewish, so we believe that that might possibly be where all of this stems from. We ask anybody with information to please call the Houston Homicide Department, (713) 308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS, T-I-P-S, if they have any information regarding Ms. Moreno or anything that could assist us with this investigation.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Hold questions until we translate and then we'll get everybody at once. Come on. Thank you. Thank you. Good job. Thank you.

[foreign language 00:26:40].

Thank you, commander. And it's great to have a PhD Spanish-speaking commander. I want to thank you for what you do for all of us and the community. Let me say this before we open up for questions. A lot of people in this room. Okay. Raise your hand and we're going to acknowledge, we're going to try to get to many questions as we can. Okay. But we ask you to respect the process. It's easier that way. Okay. Go ahead, sir.

Chief, Kevin [inaudible 00:34:11] ABC13.

Hi, Kevin.

Your main investigator mentioned that she got past the security guard on the west side of the building. Was there some sort of lapse of security that allowed her to get in the building? Was she not properly checked through a metal detector?

Wait. No, we're not saying that at all. I think specifically she displayed or possibly pointed a weapon at that security officer and forced her way in. Not saying a security breach at all, and that's an important question. We want to acknowledge the security that they had around the church that day and all the days. Go ahead.

Can you talk, sir, about the relationship between the suspect and the 7-year-old fighting for their life?

I'll let the investigator say a few words on it. But we do believe it's a relative and I think it's been confirmed that is the biological mother. And if I'm correct on that and that yeah, it's the biological mother. Okay.

We have a question about...

Go ahead.

Who got the gun, the weapons might be also special agent in charge. We understand that she had a previous criminal background that showed she had a misdemeanor charge for a weapon that was taken away from her. And that the FBI also made question about a possible weapon she was going to purchase in 2023. How was she able to get ahold of these weapons?

That's part of the investigation. And that he can speak to that if you want really quickly. But that's the challenges that we have and that's what law enforcement talk about all the time. We need to make sure everything is tightened. We're not people standing up here against second right amendments, but people who are suffering from mental illness, criminals.

Mental [inaudible 00:35:54].

Yes. We're looking at that. And if you want to add to it, you okay? Yeah, go ahead. Come on.

I don't really have anything to add. I think it's, we're in the infancy stages of this. I completely understand. We want to know the motive, how she got the weapon, why she did this. We're not there yet.

For procedural purposes then, if and when the FBI does make an inquiry about weapons that are going to try to be purchased by someone who has a mental health issue and a criminal background, what do you do with that information then afterwards?

When that information comes through, the FBI will receive it and then we share that with our local partners. Yes.

Chief?

Yes, go ahead.

Chief, was it clear how much ammunition the suspect was carrying amongst those two rifles?

I think we're still working through it, but can I say multiple rounds of ammunition? Multiple rounds were fired, but just 24 hours into it. I don't want to give you a definitive answer. Multiple rounds and multiple rounds fired. Go ahead and we'll work our way to the back. Go ahead, Maria.

Just for clarification of what the gentleman said in Spanish, you indicated that Christopher Christian Moreno, is that the officer for HPD that returned fire?

Yes. Christopher Moreno. And we'll be sending that information out to y'all and I don't want to speak for my TABC, but we will get that out sometime pretty soon. Go ahead.

Is it clear because we're dealing with multiple Morenos, is there any relation here? Just want to make sure.

No. Now do we know of-

Got it. Question now with regards to, I need a clarification now to my question please.

One more. And as I said there's a lot of people in this room. Go ahead. Go ahead, Mario, go ahead.

Thank you for the transparency. We really appreciate it.

All right.

I got it at 1:53, he arrives. Or she arrives, forgive me. She arrives at 1:53. 27 declared dead by HPD. How long before there was gunfire engaged and how long did that gun exchange last?

The shooting began almost instantaneous upon her entering the building, which roughly 1:55. It takes her a little over a minute to get in after talking with the security guard. The firing commences right after that. There's a few minute gun battle, for lack of a better term. They're exchanging gunfire and she is down. And then our officers followed their tactical training. They linked up, they talked, talked about a game plan, approached the body. Somebody else pulled the 7-year-old to safety. And so all of this transpired within a matter of less than 12 minutes.

And we'll get a timeline a little bit later. Let me get you some more questions. Go ahead.

Chief, why Lakewood Church? That's a long way from Conroe where she lived.

I can't speculate for her. That's part of the investigation, but it could be any place of worship. And as I said earlier, and I want us to get this, it could be any location. Bad people or individuals suffering from mental illness and with guns, we need to all look out for them.

Those family members she was in a dispute with though, did they attend services there?

No, not at all. Go ahead and then we'll work our way back to you.

Is it possible that if there are

,,, resources for all the community there.

Say that one more time. I'm very sorry. Yeah, you can do it. Yeah, go ahead. Come up.

[foreign language 00:39:14].

[foreign language 00:39:20]. Okay?

One in back and then work our way in the front and over there too. Go ahead.

Chief.

How you doing?

... Commander Hasek as an extension of the Why Lakewood question. Referencing the writings that you talked about Commander Hasek, was there anything in those writings that stipulated a desire for acting out against specific people?

What investigation?

Nothing at this specific moment. We don't have anything that pops out. Again, we're reviewing all of those writings, but nothing that stands out at this time.

No, no. Go ahead.

Just real quick about security managers at the church who we're told that we heard that you may have tried to get into a classroom full of students.

I'm not sure that's part of the investigation and I forgot to address this. Yesterday, there was a question about a body-worn camera. Our officers did have body-worn cameras. So a part of this investigation is going through that plus the security camera. So I really don't want to speculate right now, but we will be transparent as more information comes in. Over here on the corner and then we'll get to you. Yes, go ahead.

Question for the commander. Based on your preview of the information you just provided, what did she say? What did she... You guys have camera information. What did the woman say to that security guard at all, if anything at all?

I mean it's still under investigation. She displayed a weapon and we were going to re-interview the security guard, but she had a rifle and it was pointed at her and she was unarmed.

I'm going to get you too. Go ahead and then we'll work our way over here. Did I leave anybody?

Is there any [inaudible 00:41:19]?

We don't want to jump ahead of that. I think it's very important that we don't. As a society right now, we want to put group different people for different reasons. I think that's really counterproductive to our healing process, to the way that we want to patrol and police our cities. So I just want us to simply wait on the facts. You got mental illness here, you got a lot of things going on. And so let us work that out and I promise you, you know we're transparent here. We'll get it to you. Go ahead. Thanks.

Did you have any more explanation about why she was-

I don't know. All we can do is as part of the process and we're just 24 hours into it. There was a lot of discussion and social media with some professional reporters and investigators and some there's not. So we're just here to present the facts as we know at this time.

Is that connected to other things she's been charged with in the past or is it-

Yeah, we don't know at this time. We're still working on it. Go ahead and then we'll come right here and then you, and then back around.

Do we know how many off-duty officers between HPD to ABC, other agencies that were already at the church and between those two officers who opened fire, do we know which one of the two or both of them actually took the suspect down as well as who shot the seven?

That's part of the investigation. I know that both of them did discharge, but give us some time to review the videos and you know whatever we have by officers, body-worn cameras, we will put that out within 30 days.

Do you know many officers were already at the church working detail duty?

Yes, they were actually working there.

But how many total besides-

I don't know right now.

We just wanted clarify-

Hold up.

Chief, have you covered any direct connection between suspect and Lakewood Church at this point? Perhaps divorce counseling she may have been undergoing?

We don't know. That's part of the investigation and that's something too that we will share. Right here and then we'll work our way back around to you. Go ahead.

This suspect was on law enforcement radar. Is there any indication that police had more opportunities to intervene in other ways sooner?

You're saying on that radar, what does that mean? And I don't want to cut you off, but I don't know if that's an accurate, but she did have a history if you want to say that, but there are millions up on top of millions of people who have a history. And to your question in answering it, the response is that we all need to continue to work together. Neighbors, family members, getting that information up to us in a timely matter where we can be proactive and prevent it. I think that's where you're going, but I just don't have all the facts right now. Go ahead sir.

The grandmother in the house with the suspect, was she taken into custody this morning or just transported to the hospital?

No, I think she was possibly transported to the hospital. Let me say this. And according to my commander, she and a few other members have been really cooperating with the investigation and that's why I asked for prayers for everybody. Can you imagine what family members are going through? Okay, go ahead ma'am.

Yesterday, I know this question was asked, I want circle back on it. It's the idea of how the young boy was shot with the bullet. I know it's difficult to talk about, but can you explain to us how that went down? Was she using him as a shield?

I don't know right now. Again, once we have a chance to view that video and y'all know whatever we have to show, we'll show it, but we just don't know right now. Another question that comes up and let's be out front with it. Was it the police officers who shot or was it her? We don't know. And I think the worst thing that we can do is speculate on something as is important to that. Once we get the evidence in and ballistics and all that, I think we'll know that. Let me get to him and I'll get back to you, Mark.

I just wanted to clarify the suspect who brought the child identified as the child's biological mother, the child who was shot and-

That's what, yes... Okay.

Who's the security guard employed by?

I don't know. We will let you know on that. I don't know right now. Go ahead.

What's the history of the two long guns in this case? How did she-

We don't know. That's part of the investigation and I think it's a very important part of the investigation. We need to know where and how, all that and why. Yeah.

Was there any reference at any point that she had?

Did you need to say something? Okay, I'll get it at the end. Okay.

Two other quick follow up. Was there any point where she had a reference of [inaudible 00:46:19].

She did. I can answer that. She did and we stated that yesterday and we'll state it again today. She did threaten that she had a bomb on her person. Okay. Let me get her on the corner right here. Go ahead. I'm sorry, I didn't...

Just to follow up on the gun question and to clarify, so did she actually own those guns? Had she taken those guns from another legal owner?

That's part of the investigation, but I'm pretty sure that she purchased one. And you can speak to the facts of it.

We're still conducting the trace on that, but we do know that the one that she did utilize was, from what we can tell, purchased in December, legally.

December, two months ago?

Yeah. We'll get two more. Let me get somebody I hadn't heard from. Go ahead.

When will people be allowed to get back into the church to get their bags, vehicles? Are people able to do anything?

Well, the vehicles that are still being processed over there, we will send that out in coordination with our investigators, with Lakewood officials as well. But we will get that out as soon as we can. Okay. Give me two more. Go ahead.

Was there any indication, chief, or the commander from your investigation thus far that there had been a direct threat or concern within the confines of Lakewood that emails or what have you regarding this woman and that-

No. No sir.

You mentioned the writing against [inaudible 00:47:45] was the shooter [inaudible 00:47:52]?

I really don't know right now and we'll... It's 24 hours. When we determine it, we will share it with you. Okay, last one.

Chief, do you know there's been other shootings at Church Texas and other places? Do you know if HPD ever done a security audit or any other type of work-

We always, and not only churches, all religious institutions, we have a strong relationship with all of them. And you see, here's the goal and here's the deal in this great city. Tragedy happens and what I've seen in 34 years of service, a lifetime residence with a few exceptions, years to college, whenever something happens, we come back stronger and better. And this is where we play. This is why you see so many people up here and so many people in the back, including our mayor, including our other elected officials, our congresswoman is here. We're going to be better. But in the way of getting better, building stronger relationships, communicating every day. (49:04) And please community and everybody, stop putting people in boxes. That's counterproductive. Good people should line up with good people, whatever fate, whatever community and all of us working together and that's what we tend to do. But look, it's been a long day for, and especially for my investigators and let me acknowledge them. I know they somewhere in the room for the hard work all of our homicide investigators do each and every day. But thank y'all for being here and we tried to answer as much as we could, so thank y'all. All right.

Thank you. Good job. (49:42) [inaudible 00:50:15].