Police release body camera footage of Lakewood church shooting

Houston Police Department released the footage on Monday as part of a commitment to make public such videos within 30 days of a critical incident. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner acknowledged the video “may be unsettling to members of the community.”

What happened in the shooting? Just over two weeks ago, Genesse Ivonne Moreno entered Houston’s Lakewood Church with her 7-year-old son, Samuel. She opened fire on members of the congregation and announced that she had a bomb. Two off-duty police officers working security jobs at the church killed her at the scene. Neither officer suffered injuries, but a 57-year-old man suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound to the hip. Moreno’s son, Samuel, suffered serious injuries and “continues to fight for his life,” Finner said Monday.

Where is the footage being released? The department released a summary video of all the footage, documenting the narrative of the incident as it unfolded from different camera perspectives. The footage comes from both body-worn cameras and security cameras. The department also released a compiled list of all the footage involved in the shooting.

What’s in the footage? The videos, viewed by WORLD, include footage of the shooter entering the church with a rifle, opening fire, and swearing at police officers. It also includes clips of the off-duty police officers shooting her down. It does feature partially obscured images of the dead shooter and her son. It also features several instances of profanity from the officers and the shooter.

Dig deeper: Listen to Julia Chan Erickson’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about the shooter’s poor mental health history.