Southwest
Lakewood Church shooter's ex-mother-in-law says attack was 'predictable and preventable'
The former mother-in-law of the Lakewood Church shooter spoke out in a new interview, saying the attack was “predictable and preventable.”
Houston police identified the shooter as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, who they say wore a trench coat and carried a backpack Sunday upon entering pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church. Moreno, who used both male and female aliases but most recently identified as female, according to police, also brought a 7-year-old boy into the church before opening fire.
The boy, said to be Moreno’s son, was shot in the head and remains hospitalized in critical condition, while Moreno was killed by armed guards at the church.
In an interview that aired on ABC News Tuesday, Walli Carranza, who describes herself as a rabbi on Facebook and is the suspect’s former mother-in-law, said, “this was predictable and preventable, and the only reason to be able to predict something is to prevent it and take a preeminent strike against it.”
NEIGHBORS OF LAKEWOOD CHURCH SHOOTER DETAIL YEARS OF ‘HELL,’ POLICE INACTION: ‘ONLY A MATTER OF TIME’
Genesse Ivonne Moreno, who Houston Police said opened fire at the Lakewood Church, used several male and female aliases, including Jeffrey Escalante Moreno. She also had six pervious arrests dating back to 2005. (Texas Department of Public Safety / Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)
“And that pre-eminent strike shouldn’t have to always be in the courts. It should be healing. And that’s what we sought. We did family meeting with she and her mother to try and find this, find the place of healing, find the place of moving forward for the sake of the child,” Carranza said.
“I did reach out at one point to Joel Osteen’s church asking for help for the mother and for intervention. As I would expect anybody to reach out to me if one of my congregants was in a situation that needed my intervention. And that’s what I needed from him. I needed their team – and I don’t know what they did – I don’t know if they were able to.”
Authorities said Moreno had a history of mental illness, including being placed under emergency detention in 2016, but provided no additional details.
“I think the tremendous guilt that any grandparent or parent feels when they haven’t been able to protect a child from something so horrific has to be set aside when you’re in the room with the child so that all they feel is the hopefulness, and the moving forward. That we’re going to live life going out the front window, not in the rearview mirror,” Carranza added.
Carranza, said to be the boy’s paternal grandmother, was involved in a bitter divorce and child custody battle between her son, Quito, and Moreno that extended to two Texas counties.
In court documents filed in Montgomery County, Carranza claimed that Moreno and her mother “knowingly and intentionally harmed” the child by “lying” to authorities for reasons hard to understand “even by the pastoral staff of Joel Osteen’s church,” according to Click2Houston. Carranza indicated she sought advice from pastoral staff at Lakewood, where Moreno’s mother was a congregation member, to “understand what caused the women’s behavior,” but court documents do not indicate which staff members Carranza claimed to have contacted.
In a rambling 2022 application for a protective order against Carranza that Moreno wrote without help from an attorney, Moreno complained of being threatened and followed and claimed to have received text messages from FBI Director Christopher Wray, according to The Associated Press.
From left to right, Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, Police Chief Troy Finner, Fire Department Chief Samuel Pena, and Mayor John Whitmire participate in a press conference during an active shooter event at Lakewood Church on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
In a separate court filing seeking to be named conservator of Moreno’s son, the ex-mother-in-law alleged that Moreno was mentally ill and that the child was being neglected and abused. Carranza claimed Moreno had schizophrenia and did not always take her prescribed medication.
Moreno’s ex-husband told a Harris County judge in 2021 that Moreno would “physically attack” him and “on multiple occasions, chased [him] out of the house with knives,” according to Click2Houston. He also told the judge that Moreno did not tell him that their child was born until a month after the birth and apparently “told the hospital that [he] was dead.”
The ex-husband was granted custody in Harris County, but a new trial in Montgomery County had the opposite outcome after a change of venue request.
TEXAS AGENCY SAYS MEGACHURCH SHOOTING HIGHLIGHTS DAMAGE DONE BY ‘DEFUND POLICE’ MOVEMENT
Police searched Moreno’s residence in Conroe, a city more than 50 miles north of the church, where authorities say antisemitic writings were found. The weapon used in the attack had a “Palestine” sticker, according to authorities.
In a statement shared online after the shooting, Carranza said, “[A]lthough my former daughter-in-law raged against Israel and Jews in a pro-Palestinian rant yesterday this has nothing to do with Judaism or Islam. Nothing! But this is what happens when reckless and irresponsible reporting let’s people with severe mental illness have an excuse for violence.”
“No one may ever blame a police officer who carries out his or her rightful duty to save lives even if they are found responsible for shooting my grandson. The fault lies in a child protective services of Montgomery County and Harris County that refused to remove custody from a woman with known mental illness that was not being treated and with the state of Texas for not having strong red flag laws that would have prevented her from owning or possessing a gun,” the grandmother added.
Houston police officers watch over displaced churchgoers outside Lakewood Church on Sunday following the shooting. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Five neighbors who lived near Moreno in the small, two-street community in Conroe told FOX 26 Houston they have been through years of “hell,” while trying to sound the alarm to police and local officials about her conduct. They said Moreno displayed swastikas and gang symbols on the side of her home, at one point allegedly pointed a rifle at her next door neighbor’s grandchildren, pulled a gun on another neighbor, blasted threatening music and sometimes sped past and swerved toward neighbors accompanying their grandchildren to the park.
The women claimed Moreno also filed false police reports claiming that they were stalking her and her son, when really Moreno had baby monitors on her fence and was the one who followed and recorded them while they were outside. They also claimed Moreno would regularly carry a long rifle and gun cases in and out of her house as a form of intimidation.
Despite this, they say local law enforcement and officials refused to take meaningful action in response to their frequent reports.
Records in Harris County, where Houston is located, showed that Moreno, under the names Jeffery Escalante-Moreno or Jeffery Escalante, was charged in six criminal cases from 2005 to 2011. The allegations included forging a $100 bill, stealing socks, hats and makeup, and assaulting a detention officer.
The August 2009 assault conviction sent Moreno to jail for 180 days.
Lakewood is regularly attended by 45,000 people weekly, making it the third-largest megachurch in the U.S., according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southwest
Travis County DA faces renewed ‘soft on crime’ criticism after career criminal charged with murder
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A Texas-based career criminal with a lengthy rap sheet is behind bars in Travis County after he was charged with murdering a father of five outside a 7-Eleven in Austin, reviving scrutiny of Travis County District Attorney José Garza and what critics call his controversial prosecutorial record and “soft on crime” approach.
Caleb Anthony Jenkins, described by police as a career criminal, was charged with murder in connection with a shooting last year that left a 25-year-old father dead outside a 7-Eleven. According to Austin police, Jenkins allegedly shot the victim and drove off.
But critics argue the killing may have been preventable. Garza’s office previously dismissed or declined to prosecute three separate gun charges against Jenkins in incidents dating back to 2022. He was also arrested in 2023 on a domestic violence charge and failed to appear in court, as Fox News reported. Most recently, he was re-arrested and released after his bond was raised.
Taken together, the developments have intensified public criticism of Garza, the Democratic district attorney backed by liberal mega-donor George Soros,
District Attorney Jose Garza in Austin, Texas. (Spencer Selvidge for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Garza, who was elected Travis County DA without prior experience as a prosecutor, has faced criticism from police advocacy groups and victims’ families since taking office. They have accused him of deliberately slow-walking certain cases and embracing lenient sentencing policies.
The criticism has sparked national attention in years past. In 2023, the family of 25-year-old Doug Cantor, who was shot and killed in the 2021 Sixth Street mass shooting in downtown Austin, criticized Garza for slow-walking the trial of the gunman.
Family members told Fox News Digital in an interview at the time that they believed Garza had put the case on the “back burner.”
“It’s very clear that his focus and attention is not on this case,” Nick Kantor told Fox News Digital in an interview reflecting on the two-year anniversary of his brother’s death — and the way Garza, who has been widely criticized for soft-on-crime policies, has handled the case.
AUSTIN DA GARZA CREATES CONFUSION WITH ANNOUNCEMENT OF IMPENDING INDICTMENTS AGAINST MULTIPLE POLICE OFFICERS
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza poses in front of the Austin skyline in a portrait from the county website. Garza has faced criticism for accusations that he aggressively prosecutes police officers accused of wrongdoing while going easy on career criminals. (Travis County DA Website)
“He’s doing things that are clearly causing distress on the trial and on the overall outcome of the case and for getting justice for my brother,” Kantor said.
Other victims’ families cited similar behavior from Garza’s office in interviews with Fox News Digital.
While overall reported crime in Travis County has declined, opponents argue dismissal rates have been “political,” and could further endanger public safety.
It “appears that Garza has now become more of an advocate for the criminal than he has for the victim,” Dennis Farris, president of the Austin Police Retired Officer’s Association, previously told Fox News Digital.
“The prosecution is acting more like defense attorneys than they are prosecutors,” Farris said in an interview roughly one year after Garza took office. “Whatever his skewed view of what criminal justice reform is, it isn’t working. It sure isn’t working for the victims.”
CRIME EXPERTS RESPOND TO SOROS DEFENDING SUPPORT FOR PROGRESSIVE DAS AMID CRIME WAVE: ‘DISASTROUS’
George Soros delivers a speech at the 2022 World Economic Forum in Davos. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
“It used to be that they got the victims’ buy-in before offering plea bargains. Now it doesn’t appear he’s even doing that, because they’re not even communicating with them, and that’s what’s leading to the revictimization of these families.”
Current and former local law enforcement officers have criticized Garza’s actions and his alleged “war on cops,” after the Soros-backed district attorney campaigned on indicting police officers and “reimagining” policing in Austin.
Soros contributed $652,000 to the Texas Justice & Public Safety PAC in the months leading up to the 2020 Travis County DA election, according to campaign finance records.
That same PAC spent almost $1 million on digital and mail advertisements to help Garza’s campaign, as Fox News reported.
The Travis County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Southwest
Jasmine Crockett campaign reportedly kicked Atlantic writer out of rally for being a ‘top-notch hater’
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Atlantic staff writer Elaine Godfrey reported that she was “thrown out” of a rally for Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, for being a “top-notch hater” according to Crockett’s team.
“Right before armed guards escorted me from the rally and left me on the edge of a Texas-county road, I was informed that I was no longer welcome at an event that I had already attended,” Godfrey wrote on Thursday.
She described having spent an hour at the Lubbock rally for Crockett’s Senate campaign before being approached by a woman with a badge as soon as she joined other reporters.
Elaine Godfrey claimed Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s team removed her from a rally in Texas earlier this week. (Dustin Franz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“‘Are you Elaine?’ she asked. I recognized her from the entrance of the event, where I had identified myself as she’d waved me into the building’s press area. Yes, I answered. ‘Her team has asked you to leave,’ she said. When I asked why, the staffer looked at her phone and read dutifully: ‘They just said, “Elaine from Atlantic, White girl with a hat and notepad. She’s interviewing people in the crowd. She’s a top-notch hater and will spin. She needs to leave,”’” Godfrey wrote.
Godfrey was the staff writer behind a profile piece for Crockett in July that reportedly received backlash from the Texas representative after including comments from fellow House Democrats “without telling her first.”
“She was, she told me, ‘shutting down the profile and revoking all permissions,’” Godfrey wrote at the time.
BOEBERT JOKES ABOUT ENDORSING CROCKETT IN TEXAS’ SENATE RACE TO GIVE HER DEMOCRATIC RIVAL A BOOST
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. (LM Otero/AP Photo)
The piece was still published and included comments from other Democratic figures.
According to Godfrey, Crockett said that there was “no evidence” that a reporter was removed from her rally but claimed that there was a “specific journalist” who has a “history of being less than truthful” and had previously lost a lawsuit against Crockett.
“Perhaps she was thinking of someone else, because that’s not something that has ever happened to me,” Godfrey wrote.
CROCKETT DISPUTES OPPONENT’S DENIAL OF ‘MEDIOCRE BLACK MAN’ COMMENT, CALLS OUT ‘WELL-INTENTIONED WHITE FOLK’
Godfrey added that her removal from the rally wasn’t a surprise considering Crockett’s firebrand-style of politics, though she expressed concern over how she was handled.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett allegedly tried to shut down an article from Elaine Godfrey after she spoke to other House Democrats. (Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“As security guards began to materialize around me, I wondered to myself what distinguished a top-notch hater from a middling one. I agreed to leave, and four guards, including at least one who was armed, escorted me out of the building, through the parking lot, and right to the edge of the nearby highway, where they waited as I ordered a car,” Godfrey wrote.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Crockett’s office and campaign for comment.
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Southwest
FAA restricts Texas airspace after Pentagon reportedly strikes down Customs and Border Protection drone
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restricted flights Thursday near Fort Hancock, Texas, after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) drone was reportedly shot down by a laser sytem operated by the Pentagon.
While government agencies have not identified who the drone belonged to, top Democrats on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released a joint statement Thursday evening claiming the drone belonged to CBP.
U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen, Bennie Thompson and Andre Carson said their “heads are exploding over the news” that a CBP drone was shot down by the Pentagon with “a high risk counter-unmanned aircraft system.”
The legislators added that this incident is “the result of [the White House’s] incompetence” after a “short-sighted” decision to “sidestep a bipartisan, tri-committee bill to appropriately train C-UAS operators and address the lack of coordination between the Pentagon, DHS and the FAA.”
The FAA expanded a temporary flight restriction near Fort Hancock, Texas, after lawmakers said a Pentagon-operated counter-drone system may have shot down a U.S. government drone. (iStock)
In a joint statement provided to Fox News Digital, the Department of War, CBP and the FAA said the DOW used counter-unmanned aircraft system to respond to a “seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace.”
The departments said the engagement took place “far away from populated areas and there were no commercial aircraft in the vicinity,” adding they “will continue to work on increased cooperation and communication to prevent such incidents in the future.”
The departments said they are “working together in an unprecedented fashion to mitigate drone threats by Mexican cartels and foreign terrorist organizations at the U.S.-Mexico border.”
“The bottom line is the Trump Administration is doing more to secure the border and crack down on cartels than any administration in history,” the statement added.
FBI RAMPS UP COUNTER-DRONE EFFORTS AS PATEL WARNS OF GROWING THREATS FROM CRIMINALS, TERRORISTS
Congressional aides told Reuters that the Pentagon reportedly used the high-energy laser system to accidentally shoot down the CBP drone near the Mexican border, an area that frequently sees incursions from drones believed to be operated by Mexican drug cartels.
The FAA told Fox News Digital that a temporary flight restriction (TFR) was “already in place” around the Fort Hancock area and that the TFR “has been expanded to include a greater radius to ensure safety.”
The restriction does not impact commercial flights, the agency said.
The FAA said in a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) that airspace around Fort Hancock was temporarily restricted for “special security reasons.”
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The restriction comes a couple of weeks after the FAA grounded flights to and from El Paso International Airport for 10 days before lifting the order roughly eight hours later.
Drones operated by Mexican drug cartels breached American airspace earlier this month near El Paso International Airport in Texas, leading the FAA to temporarily close the airport. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
A Trump administration official previously told Fox News that the initial lockdown came in response to “Mexican cartel drones” that breached U.S. airspace.
A U.S. official later confirmed that the U.S. military had shot down what was later determined to be a party balloon near El Paso.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment and was directed to the joint statement provided by the Department of War, Customs and Border Patrol and Federal Aviation Administration.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Reuters contributed to this report.
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