In the wake of the Texas megachurch shooting that left a little boy fighting for his life, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre failed to make any mention of the attempted massacre when honoring victims of mass gun violence at Tuesday's briefing:
Our thoughts are with the families of the three students who were tragically killed one year ago at Michigan State University, the five students who were injured as a result of this horrific gun violence, and the countless others traumatized by that day. Tomorrow also marks another painful tragedy as we remember the 14 students and three educators who lost their lives six years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. From Michigan to Florida, American children and educators are being gunned down in classrooms, on college campuses, and in their own homes and communities, as guns remain the No. 1 killer of kids in America. The president has met with countless survivors of gun violence who have turned their pain into purpose by advocating for common-sense gun safety measures that protect communities and save lives [...] As the president often says, 'Nothing is beyond our capacity when we act together'—and that includes ending the epidemic of gun violence once and for all.
This exclusion despite the White House reportedly "tracking the [Lakewood Church] shooting and working to obtain more information," a White House official told CNN. We've yet to see the White House formally acknowledge Sunday's horrific events.
Karine Jean-Pierre takes a moment to remember the victims of the Michigan State University shooting, as well as the Parkland school shooting in Florida, but makes no mention of the attempted church massacre in Texas over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/kXwDIoEGZX
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 13, 2024
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Of course, that's because the Lakewood Church shooter, a pro-Palestine Hispanic woman whose gender identity and citizenship status are in dispute, doesn't quite fit the Left's politically correct narrative. Many inconvenient facts about the shooter are emerging in the case; it looks like 36-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno, the now-deceased terrorist, checks off all the DEI boxes.
Moreno, a biological woman, used multiple male aliases, including assuming variations of the alter-ego "Jeffery Escalante."
Previous mugshots show her looking much more feminine. pic.twitter.com/n8vKtpRhGs
— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) February 12, 2024
She was an El Salvadoran immigrant, according to arrest records. In 2010, it appears U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged an immigration detainer against Moreno, but the federal detention request was "lifted" a month later.
🚨 BREAKING: Lakewood Church shooter was previously detained by ICE in 2010 before the hold was “lifted” shortly thereafter. 🚨 pic.twitter.com/AEyqASllqL
— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) February 12, 2024
Moreno's since-scrubbed Facebook page expressed leftist, anti-police views. On Instagram, she supported far-left socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential election. "I WANT HIM IN THE OFFICE AS THE US PRESIDENT," Moreno wrote.
The genocidal phrase "Free Palestine" was emblazoned on the AR-15 she used to carry out the attack on the famous Christian church, according to CNN. Houston police verified that a political sticker "simply" stated "Palestine" on the long gun's buttstock.
“There was a sticker on the buttstock of the rifle that stated ‘Palestine.’”
— The Recount (@therecount) February 12, 2024
— Chris Hassig, commander of the Houston PD Homicide Division, on the AR-15 used by the Joel Osteen megachurch shooting suspect pic.twitter.com/JOZbYrWJv0
"Antisemtic writings" were also found in Moreno's possession. The would-be mass murder is suspected to stem from "a familial dispute" between Moreno and Jewish family members of her ex-husband. The relatives, specifically Moreno's former mother-in-law Rabbi Walli Carranza, were embroiled in a nasty custody-and-divorce battle over the couple's seven-year-old son Samuel Moreno-Carranza, whom Moreno, the child's mother, hauled with her to the scene of the shooting. Carranza, the boy's paternal grandmother, confirmed that Moreno "raged against Israel and Jews in a pro-Palestinian rant" inside Lakewood Church's halls.
Ultimately, the gun(wo)man was taken down by a pair of good guys with guns. Two off-duty officers, working as the parish's security guards, neutralized the shooter minutes after she opened fire, as the Spanish service was set to commence.
The child—caught in the crossfire—suffered a gunshot wound to his brain and remains hospitalized in critical condition at Texas Children's Hospital. He was allegedly used as a human shield, a Hamas-inspired tactic, as Guy notes. Wearing a backpack and a trenchcoat, Moreno threatened to bomb the church in a Jihadi-style murder-suicide bombing, although authorities determined the threat wasn't credible. (A bomb squad and decontamination crew found no evidence of explosives.) Moreno possessed a yellow-colored rope and substances "consistent with the manufacture of explosive devices, which appeared to be a detonation cord," according to a search warrant, and she sprayed the ground with some sort of mysterious substance that stumped investigators.
Local law enforcement requested the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s assistance with the search warrant's execution on Moreno's house, including forensic analysis of any digital devices collected. FBI Houston's special-agent-in-charge Douglas Williams stated: "It is way too early to determine a motive for the shooter's actions, and we're not in the business of speculating."
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