Gun-wielding Mother Shot Dead at Joel Osteen’s Church

Gun-wielding Mother Shot Dead at Joel Osteen’s Church – In a distressing incident on Sunday, February 11, a woman armed with a long gun entered Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church near Houston, accompanied by her young child, approximately 4 or 5 years old.

The woman, wearing a trench coat and carrying a backpack, initiated gunfire inside the mega-church just before 2 p.m. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner revealed that two off-duty law enforcement officers responded, shooting and fatally injuring the woman. Tragically, the child suffered critical gunshot wounds, and the exact source of the injuries remains unclear.

The young boy was quickly transported to Texas Children’s Hospital, where he remains in critical condition. Additionally, a 57-year-old man, described as a bystander, sustained a gunshot wound to the leg and was taken to a local hospital in stable condition.

The shooter, believed to be between 30 and 35 years old, reportedly claimed to have a bomb and sprayed an unknown substance on the ground before being shot dead by law enforcement. However, subsequent investigations revealed no explosives on her person or in her vehicle.

The incident unfolded between services, just prior to a scheduled Spanish-language mass, as Joel Osteen conveyed during a news conference. Osteen acknowledged that the situation could have been much more dire, stating, “I could only imagine what could have happened during the 11 o’clock service.”

In the aftermath, the pastor expressed a sense of being “kinda in a fog” but affirmed the church’s resilience. “We’re gonna stay strong, we’re gonna continue to move forward,” he said. Osteen emphasized the strength of forces aligned with God in the face of adversity, declaring them more powerful than any forces of evil.

SEE ALSO: 10-Year-Old Boy Completes Arctic Fundraising Trek Returns Home Successfully

A witness recounted the chaos, sharing that gunshots were heard from the choir room, prompting churchgoers to panic. The congregation united in prayer and declarations of Jesus’ name amid the tumult.

Another church member, evacuating with his three young daughters, reported hearing between 20 to 30 gunshots during the incident. The entire episode unfolded during a moment of vulnerability and shock, leaving both the congregation and church leadership grappling with the aftermath.

Source: LIB