(CP) Nearly a month after he was overcome with tears as he announced to his congregation that that they had paid off a $100 million loan, Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen was overcome with tears again as he prayed for 7-year-old Samuel Moreno-Carranza, who was shot in his head on the megachurch last Sunday when his mother instigated an armed attack on the church and engaged two off-duty cops in gunfire.
The boy’s mother, Genesse Ivonne Moreno, a mentally troubled 36-year-old woman who had previously worshipped on the church, was fatally shot through the armed confrontation with the church’s security team, stopping what many consider might have been a mass shooting. He is reportedly barely clinging on to life at Texas Children’s Hospital and has little or no brain activity.
“Lord … we lift up that little 7-year-old boy, Samuel, that was injured here, Lord, and [through] no fault of his own,” Osteen prayed.
“Lord, we all know you may do what looks unattainable. Even though medical reports don’t look good, Lord, I do know he’s in your hands. Lord, I thanks that his destiny for his life will come to pass, and Lord, that your mercy is upon his life. We just pray your healing and wholeness. And Lord, I pray for all of the family of the deceased and the troubled woman, Lord,” Osteen said before he became overwhelmed with tears and covered his face along with his hands.
“Lord, I do know she was troubled in her mind, but I do know her family’s hurting. Lord, we all know you are on top of things. So I just pray for comfort for that family and just comfort for all those which can be here. Lord, these aren’t tears of sadness but tears of your goodness and overwhelming,” he added.
“Just Your grace and Your mercy protecting us all. Lord, we all know what it might have been. But here we’re, and Lord, like already declared, I feel that Lakewood is robust and that You bless us with awesome people. And we’re moving from glory to glory, from victory to victory. In Jesus name, Amen.”
In an earlier announcement in regards to the services at Lakewood Church on Sunday, Osteen said they were designed to assist the church community heal from the tragedy.
“I’m a crybaby, y’all. I can not help it. But again, it is not tears of sadness or fear. It’s just wow, take a look at the goodness of our God. He brought us through. So we thought we might just take this service, it’s good to recollect what God has done and thank Him for what He did.”
In a recounting of the shooting at Lakewood Church, Houston Police Department’s Commander of Homicide Christopher Hassig said at a press conference that Moreno pulled as much as the west side of the church constructing in a white vehicle at 1:53 p.m. on Feb. 11 together with her son in tow.
Moreno then “confronts a security guard who lets her in along the west side of the constructing” at 1:55 p.m. Moreno “immediately starts firing” after entering a hallway of the church.
The off-duty officers, who were working approved security jobs for the church, engaged Moreno in a gunfight. Moreno and the kid are then brought down. Hassig said the kid was shot once in the top but didn’t say who shot the kid.
“Multiple rounds are fired by her, at which point Officer Moreno of the Houston Police Department, working an approved extra job at the placement in addition to TABC agent Herrera, returned fire and the exchange is all there on the west side of the constructing,” Hassig said.
“In the hallway, multiple shots are exchanged by all three. She eventually falls to the bottom. The 7-year-old child falls to the bottom as well from gunfire — one gunshot wound to the top.”
Moreno was pronounced dead by Houston Fire Department personnel at 2:07 p.m. Hassig said, her son stays hospitalized in “critical condition.”
Two weapons were recovered from the scene, including a .22 caliber rifle, which was not utilized in the shooting, and an AR-15 with a “Palestine” sticker, which Moreno fired on the officers.
Police have since revealed a whole list of things taken from Moreno’s home in Conro, Texas, as evidence. The list includes nearly two dozen rounds of ammunition, two bullet-proof vests and a mask with “Free Gaza Trump” on it.
Osteen revealed that he was on the church when the shooting took place and while he couldn’t share all the main points, he saw the hand of God moving within the situation in some ways.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner also requested prayer for Moreno’s son and family and said video of the shooting might be released to the general public in just a few days.
“In just a few days, we will release the videotape. And I’m going to let you know, you are going to be happy with it. You’re not going to have the ability to know every thing since it’s only a snippet of what happened, but when God puts men and girls in place to guard people, that is what happened last Sunday,” Finner said.
Houston Mayor John Whitmore was so moved by the service he said he was leaving the event a modified man.
“Let me close by saying thanks for allowing me to be on this service. I feel the Holy Spirit as I stand before you. I do know what the Holy Spirit seems like. And I feel it, show it. I’ll leave here a greater father, a greater Christian, and a greater mayor than after I came,” he said.
As he celebrated his church escaping a mass shooting incident, Osteen also took the chance to supply a recent prayer over the sanctuary.
“I just thought it might be an excellent time to rededicate this constructing to God. I do know we did it back in 2005 after we moved down, but let’s just rededicate it,” he said as his congregants joined hands along with his guests.
“Lord, we all know you gave us this constructing. It was a basketball arena but Lord, you turned it over to us. I do know Lord, we’re standing on holy ground straight away. This isn’t just an extraordinary constructing. This is the place that you just gave us to bring hope to the world and healing to our community. Help us to walk in your way,” Osteen said. “We commit it back to you. We thank You for Your protection. We thank You for watching after us.”
