A woman in a trench coat has shot up the Houston megachurch of celebrity pastor Joel Osteen – before being killed by two off-duty cops.
Details of the Incident
The suspect entered the building with a five-year-old boy shortly before 2pm and the child was shot and critically injured.
Statement From Official
Police Chief Troy Finner said it was not clear whether the young child was struck by the officers – a 28-year-old Houston police officer and a 38-year-old agent with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission – who returned fire. Finner added a 57-year-old man was shot and wounded.
Finner said after the woman began shooting, both officers ‘engaged’ her and the woman was killed.
The Condition of the Child
He praised the officers for quickly confronting the woman, adding, ‘She had a long gun, and it could have been a lot worse.’
The child was in critical condition after being taken to a hospital. The man who was wounded in his hip was stable.
When it Happened
The shooting happened between services at the megachurch that is regularly attended by 45,000 people every week, making it the third largest megachurch in the U.S., according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Osteen´s televised sermons reach about 100 countries.
What Joel Osteen Said
It was not clear where Osteen was at the time but he joined police at a news conference afterward and said the church is ‘devastated.’
But he added that the shooting could have been much worse if it had happened during the larger 11am service.
He added he would pray for the victims and for the woman who did the shooting and their families.
‘We´re going to stay strong and we´re going to continue to, to move forward,’ Osteen said after authorities spoke.
‘There are forces of evil, but the forces that are for us — the forces of God — are stronger than that. So we´re going to keep going strong and just, you know, doing what God´s called us to do: lift people up and give hope to the world.’
