BREAKING: Transgender Migrant Identified As Lakewood Church Shooter

A transgender migrant from El Salvador was killed after opening fire in a Lakewood megachurch in Texas.

The Lakewood church is owned by the famous pastor Joel Osteen.

The woman entered the church with a child and began firing, injuring a man before two off-duty cops shot and killed the woman.

The child was also injured during the gunfight and is in critical care.

Previous mugshots show her looking much more feminine. pic.twitter.com/n8vKtpRhGs

— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) February 12, 2024

The Associated Press News shares more:

A woman in a trenchcoat opened fire with a long gun Sunday inside celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Texas, sending worshippers rushing to find safety while two off-duty officers confronted and killed the shooter. Two other people were shot and injured, including a 5-year-old boy who was in critical condition.

The violence erupted shortly before the Houston church’s 2 p.m. Spanish service was set to begin, just as the rest of the country was preparing for the Super Bowl. The woman entered the enormous Lakewood Church – a building with a 16,000-person capacity that was previously an arena for the NBA’s Houston Rockets — with the boy who was later hurt in the shootout with police. A man in his 50s was also wounded.

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Details of the confrontation remain unclear in the hours after the tragedy, and police have not released the woman’s identity or a possible motive. It’s also unknown what relationship, if any, the woman had to the boy, and who actually shot him and the man.

“I will say this,” Houston Police Chief Troy Finner told reporters during a news conference outside the church. “That female, that suspect, put that baby in danger. I’m going to put that blame on her.”

The boy was in critical condition at a children’s hospital, while the man was stable at a different hospital with a hip wound.

The shooting happened between services at the megachurch that is regularly attended by 45,000 people every week, making it the third-largest megachurch in the U.S., according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Osteen said the violence could have been much worse if it had happened during the earlier, larger 11 a.m. service.

It is abhorrent that this woman not only shot up a place of worship but that she involved a 5-year-old child in the gunfire.

Thank God for the off-duty officers who acted swiftly and subdued the threat.

The offender appears to have a history of violent crimes:

Previous history includes weapons charges. pic.twitter.com/Z9X6OLIghr

— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) February 12, 2024

CNN shares more:

The gunfire unfolded while the church was “in between services” and preparing to go into a Spanish service, Osteen said in Sunday’s news conference.

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“I can only imagine if it would have happened during the 11 o’clock service,” he said.

Video from a church feed shows a host making announcements in Spanish, interrupted by the sound of gunshots and screams.

The shooting is just the latest instance of gun violence disrupting American life at places once considered safe. This one was at a place of worship. Others have been at schools, grocery stores, outlet malls, hospitals, college campuses and house parties.

Here’s what we know.

The woman entered the church accompanied by a child who Finner estimated to be between “4 to 5 years old.”

“Once she entered, at some point she began to fire,” the chief said.

I pray that the 5-year-old child and the man who was shot can recover.