For the first time since the shooting at Lakewood Church on Sunday, the paternal grandmother of the 7-year-old boy fighting for his life at the hospital, is speaking out.
The grandmother shared a statement to the public on Facebook, calling this a “completely preventable horror.”
“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,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, local, state, and federal officials combed through evidence from the home of 36-year-old Genesse Moreno.
Investigators said Moreno used many aliases, including some male names such as Jeffrey, and that they’ve found anti-Semitic writings.
KPRC 2′s Bryce Newberry dug deep into documents, including divorce records that reveal details on what police called a “documented mental history” and a possible connection to the megachurch.
Records said in 2021, her ex-husband told a judge that Moreno would “physically attack” him and “on multiple occasions, chased (him) out of the house with knives.”
The custody battle for their child, who was injured in Sunday’s shooting at Lakewood Church, started in Harris County, records show, but ended in Montgomery County. While the child’s father was granted custody in Harris County, a new trial in Montgomery County as part of a venue transfer had the opposite outcome, records show.
During the Montgomery County case, more records revealed the child’s paternal grandmother asked a judge to appoint her as temporary conservator, claiming Moreno had schizophrenia and didn’t always take her prescribed medication.
In the ex-husband’s testimony to a Harris County judge, he said that he didn’t know their child was born until a month after, and that Moreno “told the hospital that (he) was dead.”
While police haven’t revealed a motive, the grandmother wrote in custody battle documents filed in Montgomery County 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,” which is where Moreno’s mother was a congregation member.
The grandmother wrote that she tried to “understand what caused the women’s behavior” by seeking assistance from the church.
“When family members seek emergency protections they’re not doing so for their own sake but for the sake of the person who is ill..... And to protect her child and society,” the grandmother wrote in a statement on Facebook Monday night.
She also blamed the state for not having strong red flag laws that could have prevented Moreno from owning or possessing a gun in the Facebook statement.
Police said the AR-15 Moreno used was purchased legally just a couple of months ago, but another gun was found in her bag. At this time, it’s unclear where that gun came from.
Read the grandmother’s full statement:
My son-Quito and I and the entire Carranza family ask for your prayers for my grandson (redacted by KPRC) who has suffered a gun shot wound to the brain. (He) is seven years old and is clinging to life today at Texas Children’s Hospital as I fly there from Mexico and his father from Florida.
The outpouring of love and support we have received today is overwhelming and as we try to make sense of this completely preventable horror, we want to make three things absolutely clear.
First, although 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.
Second, 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. Let it be clear that the second amendment stops where the first amendment right to life begins and it’s time to remove from the US Constitution any protection for gun ownership.
Third, my family asks for privacy and at the same time we ask that this be a wake-up call.. my daughter-in-law when she was taking medication for schizophrenia was a very sweet and loving woman. But mental illness is real illness and when family members seek emergency protections they’re not doing so for their own sake but for the sake of the person who is ill..... And to protect her child and society.
If today you suspect that someone needs mental health care never cease your efforts to secure their safety and that of others.
May HaShem bless the hands of those who hold our child and bring him healing just as G.d did when he was born ar just 23 weeks.
And may the memory of Genèse Moeeno-Carranza be for a blessing.....in her death may we find a way to keep others from dying.
Shalom,
Rabbi Walli Carranza