The former mother-in-law of the Lakewood Church shooter spoke out in a new interview, saying the attack was “predictable and preventable.” 

Houston police identified the shooter as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, who they say wore a trench coat and carried a backpack Sunday upon entering pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church. Moreno, who used both male and female aliases but most recently identified as female, according to police, also brought a 7-year-old boy into the church before opening fire. 

The boy, said to be Moreno’s son, was shot in the head and remains hospitalized in critical condition, while Moreno was killed by armed guards at the church.

In an interview that aired on ABC News Tuesday, Walli Carranza, who describes herself as a rabbi on Facebook and is the suspect’s former mother-in-law, said, “this was predictable and preventable, and the only reason to be able to predict something is to prevent it and take a preeminent strike against it.” 
 

Police searched Moreno’s residence in Conroe, a city more than 50 miles north of the church, where authorities say antisemitic writings were found. The weapon used in the attack had a “Palestine” sticker, according to authorities. 

In a statement shared online after the shooting, Carranza said, “[A]lthough my former daughter-in-law raged against Israel and Jews in a pro-Palestinian rant yesterday this has nothing to do with Judaism or Islam. Nothing! But this is what happens when reckless and irresponsible reporting let’s people with severe mental illness have an excuse for violence.”

“No one may ever blame a police officer who carries out his or her rightful duty to save lives even if they are found responsible for shooting my grandson. The fault lies in a child protective services of Montgomery County and Harris County that refused to remove custody from a woman with known mental illness that was not being treated and with the state of Texas for not having strong red flag laws that would have prevented her from owning or possessing a gun,” the grandmother added. 

Houston police officers watch over displaced churchgoers outside Lakewood Church on Sunday following the shooting. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Five neighbors who lived near Moreno in the small, two-street community in Conroe told FOX 26 Houston they have been through years of “hell,” while trying to sound the alarm to police and local officials about her conduct. They said Moreno displayed swastikas and gang symbols on the side of her home, at one point allegedly pointed a rifle at her next door neighbor’s grandchildren, pulled a gun on another neighbor, blasted threatening music and sometimes sped past and swerved toward neighbors accompanying their grandchildren to the park. 

The women claimed Moreno also filed false police reports claiming that they were stalking her and her son, when really Moreno had baby monitors on her fence and was the one who followed and recorded them while they were outside. They also claimed Moreno would regularly carry a long rifle and gun cases in and out of her house as a form of intimidation. 

Despite this, they say local law enforcement and officials refused to take meaningful action in response to their frequent reports. 

Records in Harris County, where Houston is located, showed that Moreno, under the names Jeffery Escalante-Moreno or Jeffery Escalante, was charged in six criminal cases from 2005 to 2011. The allegations included forging a $100 bill, stealing socks, hats and makeup, and assaulting a detention officer. 

The August 2009 assault conviction sent Moreno to jail for 180 days.

Lakewood is regularly attended by 45,000 people weekly, making it the third-largest megachurch in the U.S., according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.