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On Sunday, Feb. 11, a lady armed with a long gun took her young kid to Joel Osteen’s Houston-area megachurch and opened fire, killing her and injuring the youngster critically.
The woman, clothed in a trench coat and wearing a backpack, invaded Osteen’s Lakewood Church shortly before 2 p.m. with the youngster, who was about 4 or 5 years old, and began firing before being fatally shot by two off-duty law enforcement officers, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said at a news conference Sunday.
The small youngster was shot and seriously wounded, although it is unclear who fired the pistol. He was flown to Texas Children’s Hospital and is still in critical condition, according to officials.
A 57-year-old guy, identified as a bystander, was shot in the leg and taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition, Finner said.
The gunman, who is believed to be between the ages of 30 and 35, claimed to have a bomb and sprayed an unknown material on the ground before being shot, according to the chief.
However, authorities conducted a sweep of the area and found no explosives on her person or in her car.
The gunfire began between services before a Spanish-language mass was scheduled, Joel Osteen said at the news conference. He added that the shooting could have been much worse.
“I could only imagine what could only imagine if it would have happened during the 11 o’clock service,” he said at the scene.
The pastor said he felt like he was “kinda in a fog” following the shooting.
“But we’re gonna stray strong, we’re gonna continue to move forward,” Osteen said. “There are forces of evil but the forces that are for us, the forces of God are stronger than that.”
A witness told ABC 13 that she heard gunshots from the choir room, which sent churchgoers into a panic.
“The whole church started praying and declaring Jesus’ name,” she said. “I was like, ‘This might be the last time I get to pray, that I get to glorify the name of Jesus, so I’m going to do this.’”
Another congregant told the local station that he heard between 20 to 30 gunshots as he ran out with his three young daughters.
