A shooting inside Joel Osteen‘s Lakewood Church in Houston yesterday (Feb. 11) left the shooter fatally wounded, a 7-year-old boy in critical condition, and a 57-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his leg area.
According to Houston police, a woman in her 30s wearing a trench coat and a backpack entered the Lakewood Church building armed with a long rifle around 1:53 p.m. (CST) during the church’s Spanish-language service and began opening fire.
Two off-duty officers, a Houston police officer and a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) agent, who were working as security inside the church were able to neutralize the situation by quickly returning fire, resulting in the shooter’s death.
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Before the woman died, she said she had a bomb. However, the police and bomb squad then determined the woman’s threats were false.
Gunfire struck a 7-year-old boy, who was with the shooter. He remains in critical condition at a nearby hospital. During the gunfire, a man in his late 50s was also shot in the hip but is in stable condition.
Video of Lakewood Church’s Spanish-language service captured the sound of the gunshots and the scene of churchgoers fleeing the area before the live video feed was suspended.
🚨#BREAKING: Watch Moments when the active shooter began to fire shots at the Lakewood Church
Watch chilling footage of an active shooter incident during a live Spanish service broadcast. The suspect began firing multiple shots, resulting in a… pic.twitter.com/bfXGuSi436
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) February 11, 2024
During a news conference, Houston’s mayor and chief of police provided reporters and residents with information regarding the shooting. At the briefing, Lakewood Church senior pastor Joel Osteen expressed his gratitude for the quick responses by the first responders.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Osteen said. “Of course, we’re devastated.” Osteen expressed that this is the first time in the church’s 65-year history that something like this incident has happened.
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“You know, we don’t understand why these things happen,” Osteen added. “But we know God’s in control and we’re going to pray for that little 5-year-old boy and pray for the lady that was deceased, her family and all, and the other gentleman.” Osteen admitted that the event had him in a fog at the moment.
“We’re gonna stay strong. We’re gonna continue to move forward. There are forces of evil, but the forces that are for us, the forces of God, are stronger than that,” he continued. “So we’re gonna keep going strong and just, you know, doing what God’s called us to do, lift people up and give hope to the world.”
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