Warning signs mounted before Texas shooter entered church, mother-in-law says

HOUSTION — The former mother-in-law of the woman who opened fire at a Houston megachurch tried for years to alert authorities and others, including church staff, about her exdaughter-in-law's mental health struggles, she said Wednesday. But Walli Carranza said nothing came of her actions.

Carranza said she believes systemic failures as well as lax gun laws ultimately led to Sunday's shooting at celebrity pastor Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in which Genesse Moreno entered the church with her 7-year-old son and opened fire in a hallway. Two people were wounded in the shooting, including Moreno's son, who was shot in the head. Moreno was gunned down by security officers she exchanged gunfire with.

“You can't put responsibility on the mind, when the mind was so very ill. A healthy mother would never bring her child to a situation like this. That's not mental health. So sometimes we don't have to find a guilty party or place blame. We can just say there are systems that failed,” Carranza told The Associated Press in an interview.

Carranza said her grandson Samuel remained in critical condition, but that he was doing better.

Various questions about the shooting remained unanswered on Wednesday, including Moreno's motive and details about how she obtained the Ar-style rifle she used.

Carranza said her son Enrique Carranza and Moreno met at the University of Houston and married in September 2015. They divorced in 2022.

Carranza said her son, who is currently incarcerated in Florida, didn't want to divorce Moreno and only “wanted his wife to get healthy.”

Carranza said Child Protective Services was notified after Moreno was accused by nurses of putting adult medication in her son's feeding tube after his birth in 2016. Other concerns, including allegations that Moreno left guns unattended in her home, were also forwarded to CPS but no action was taken, Carranza said.

“My great concern for Sam was that he was going to shoot himself, and that's what we warned against,” Carranza said. She added that in January 2020, when Moreno and her grandson visited her in Colorado, Samuel pulled a handgun from his diaper bag and gave it to her.

Melissa Landford, spokesperson for the state Department of Family and Protective Services, said CPS could not comment on the case for confidentiality reasons.