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Houston Officials Give Update On Megachurch Shooting. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 12, 2024 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And also, we're standing by for a live update out of Houston from officials on the shooting at Lakewood Church. We're going to bring that to you, live, when it happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MAYOR JOHN WHITMIRE, (D-HOUSTON): -- 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 --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK VOICE-OVER INTERRUPTION OF PRESS BRIEFING)

WHITMIRE: -- 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. The TABC officer and 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.

[14:35:06]

And in closing, let me thank the men and women of every agency that's represented up here today and some that are out in the field.

I speak quite often about collaboration of our law enforcement agencies in our community. I won't the public to know. I won't Houstonians to know that we have every level of government represented here today, led by our fine outstanding Chief Finner.

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 had worked all night long and have an ongoing investigation. 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 scene yesterday.

The re-unification 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.

TROY FINNER, CHIEF, HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: 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 the 7-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 just pray. He's still in critical condition, fighting for his life.

The last report I got, the 57-year-old male, who was shot, has been released. Want to ask for continued prayers for him and his family. And all families involved.

The Lakewood family -- and the mayor spoke on it. But I spoke to Pastor Osteen this morning and he would have 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, 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. Chief Pena will speak. The FBI SEC, Douglass 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 as well. We'll follow up in Spanish. Commander Hector Garcia would probably just summarize everything that everybody is saying up here briefly.

And then we'll 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.

And if I've missed out on somebody, you let me know.

But a lot of work has been conducted 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.

[14:40:00]

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. In this moment and any other moment. We need to watch out for one another.

And you'll see us out there, a more visible presence. But behind the presence are true relationships. But we communicate every day with everybody in our community that we possibly can and will continue to do that.

I'm going to step aside briefly and bring up Chief Pena.

SAM PENA, CHIEF, HOUSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT. Thanks, Troy

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 not -- 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 happens, so.

But the purpose of my briefing here today is just to allay some of the fears that may be out there in regard to any possible exposure to chemicals that may or may not have been present at the scene.

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 effects 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.

So I turn it back to you.

Thanks.

FINNER: Thank you.

The FBI special agent in charge, Doug Williams.

DOUG WILLIAMS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, HOUSTON FIELD OFFICE: Thank you, Chief Finner. Appreciate it.

I'd first like to start by thanking all of the partners who are -- 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 FBIs 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 when was Sunday afternoon just before his 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 working 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 have been much higher.

There is no doubt, there is no doubt that their heroic actions saved lives.

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.

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 is 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, evidenced response teams, victim service specialists, just to name a few.

[14:45:05]

Yesterday, we deployed all those resources and will continue to support HPD for as long as it's needed.

In the meantime, if anyone has information about Sunday shooting at Lakewood Church that they'd like to share, we would 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.

FINNER: TABC director, Kevin Lily.

KEVIN LILY, CHAIRMAN, TEXAS ALCOHOL & BEVERAGE COMMISSION: Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Chief

I'm Kevin Lily, chairman of the Texas Alcohol and 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 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.

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 cheap.

I was talking to a couple of your deputy chiefs yesterday, as well as some 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 proprietor -- the perpetrator was neutralized.

And they did not yield and they remained there as a wall. Agent Herrera and the HPD officer involved were gauntlets. 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.

And so I would like to thank Chief Finner for your 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 to defend our city.

FINNER: Thank you very much.

Christopher Hassig of Homicide.

CHRISTOPHER HASSIG, COMMANDER, HPD HOMICIDE DIVISION: Good afternoon. I'm Christopher Hassig, commander, HPD Homicide, also leader of our Special Investigations Unit. Last name, H-A-S-S-I-G.

I just want to talk about the investigative steps, where were at, what we've accomplished so far, and what we're going to be doing moving forward. All right?

[14:50:00]

Please be mindful, we are approximately 24 hours into this investigation. It's very fluid. And the investigators under my Special Investigations Unit had been working around the clock and gathering information this entire time.

So Sunday, yesterday, February 11th, at 13:53, at 01:53 p.m., we had an individual pull up in front of Lakewood Church on the west side of the building off of Timmins.

She gets out of her white vehicle, she opens the door, pulls out a 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 at 13:55. Pardon me, 01:55 p.m.

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, returned 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. As has been mentioned earlier today, he is in critical condition at this time.

And at 14:07, 2:07 p.m., she is pronounced deceased by Houston Fire Department personnel.

Other things that we know at this point in regard 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 is 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. There were two weapons of hers recovered on the scene, an Anderson manufacturing A.R.-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, which she brought in, according to video, and she had in a bag, was a .22 caliber rifle by Blueline 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's more evidence.

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.

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 stay 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.

[14:55:05]

And some of those individuals are Jewish. So we believe that that might, 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 Mr. Moreno or anything that could assist us with this investigation.

Thank you very much.

FINNER: We'll hold questions until we translate and then we'll get everybody.

HECTOR GARCIA, COMMANDER, HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: Thank you.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) KEILAR: All right, we are going to continue to monitor this. But obviously, the briefing now continuing in Spanish there in Houston.

We learned some new details in the case of this Lakewood Church shooting.

One of the big outstanding questions had been, what was the motive of this shooter, of this woman who went into this church between services and opened fire with an A.R.-15?

I'm getting a bit more of a clear picture there. Perhaps there had been a familial dispute, we learned there from police, involving her ex-husband, the ex-husbands family, some of whom are Jewish.

They think this may be part of the reason why this is all -- this may be part of the motive. They say they found anti-Semitic writings as well in the home of the shooter.

And of course, so many questions. And we don't know yet the identity of what we learned of a seven-year-old who she had taken into this church, who has been shot in the head during this process. A boy in critical condition fighting for his life in the hospital?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Yes. That's right. Questions, of course, as to what the relation is between this young boy in critical condition and the shooter, who authorities there identified as 36-year-old Genesee Moreno, a Hispanic woman.

Interestingly, they said that, in the past, she has used both male and female names. But felt confident, based on a driver's license, that this is a woman who his name is Genesee Moreno.

They noted that back in 2016, there had been an emergency detention order and that Mareno has a history of mental health issues.

As you said, Brianna, there is some evidence of anti-Semitic writings. The officer there, the commander of the Homicide Division, also saying that, on the rifle, the A.R.-15 that was used, there was a sticker that simply said "Palestine."

And that was one of two weapons that Mareno had in her possession. The second one was a .22 caliber rifle.

So they didn't go so far as to say, we believe that anti-Semitism is the motive or politics is the motive, but they did say that there is this history of mental health issues, of anti-Semitic writings.

And that the ex-husband and his family are Jewish. And that some of what we saw play out yesterday at Lakewood Church could have stemmed from this relationship. It appears to have fallen apart between Moreno and her ex-husband.

KEILAR: Let's bring in former deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, who is with us.

I wonder, Andy, what stood out to you in that press briefing that we heard from authorities.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, a couple of things, Brianna. I mean, first, the description of how she nonchalantly entered the building, passed the security guard in the process, walked into not the sanctuary, but into a hallway on the west side of the building, took out a rifle and just began shooting.

Absolutely chilling. Very, very lucky that that didn't take place in the larger room. More people could have been hurt.

Also took place, as we know, in-between services. So probably at a time when there wasn't quite as big of a crowd in there.

The information about her, what sounded like an involuntary detention and possibly as a result of mental health issues, is very interesting to me.

Although we have not heard anything to date about how she acquired these weapons, it would certainly raise significant questions about if she had purchased these weapons after having been adjudicated to involuntary detention for mental health reasons.

[14:59:55]

That would be at odds with the federal background check law that requires -- or disqualifies you from buying a firearm if you've been adjudicated a mental defective as its termed in the statute.

MARQUARDT: Want to bring in John Miller, our law enforcement and intelligence analyst as well.