(UnitedHeadlines.com) – On Feb. 12, six women who lived in the same Houston, Texas, neighborhood as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, who opened fire Feb. 11 at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood megachurch, spoke out about how they tried to warn officials about her for months.
The women discussed how officials failed to respond after they complained Moreno had targeted them, threatened them and harassed them, causing them to be afraid to be outside their homes.
The neighborhood association president, Jill, stated, “This should have been handled years ago.” She added, “No one should have died” or have been hurt.
According to the women, things were so bad five months ago that five of them spent a day discussing Moreno with local elected officials, the police, the sheriff’s office and the city’s legal department, and Moreno was issued a cease-and-desist order following the meeting.
One of the women, Linda Giutta said, “We tried to stop this,” adding that they “tried to help her” and tried to help themselves and the public.
One of the women, Heather, said she filed a complaint against Moreno, who allegedly threatened her with a gun on July 4, 2022, after Heather walked by her home.
Judy Keith also spoke about how she had to stop walking in the neighborhood because Moreno tried to hit her twice while she was walking.
Moreno’s 7-year-old son, who was with her when she opened fire, was injured in the shooting and “fighting for his life,” according to Houston Police Chief Troy Finner. Moreno was killed by two off-duty police officers who were at the church and returned fire. A 57-year-old man was also injured in the shooting.
The motive for the shooting remains unknown, but according to two law enforcement officials, the gun Moreno used had the word “Palestine” written on it. Authorities have speculated that a disagreement between Moreno and her ex-husband’s family, as some of them are Jewish, could be linked to her motive.
Since 2015, Moreno, who had a documented mental health history, had been arrested several times, according to police records, including pleading guilty to illegally carrying a weapon.
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