A woman who opened fire inside pastor Joel Osteen’s Houston megachurch on Sunday was killed by two off-duty law enforcement officers, according to authorities.
A young child who accompanied the woman into Lakewood Church at around 1:50 p.m. local time was in critical condition after being shot in the exchange of gunfire, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said at a news conference. The child, believed to be around 5 years old, remained in critical condition on Sunday afternoon.
The woman, estimated to be between 30 and 35 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene. She was not immediately identified by authorities.
One other person, a 56-year-old man, was hospitalized with an injury to the hip, according to Finner. He was listed as stable on Sunday afternoon.
“Let’s pray for this community as a whole,” Finner said. “This is traumatic for every Houstonian.”
A motive in the shooting was not immediately announced by police, and an investigation into the matter was ongoing on Sunday evening, with first responders remaining on the scene.
AJ McDougall is a breaking news reporter for The Daily Beast. Before graduating from Columbia University in 2022, she wrote for Vice and E! News, and previously interned at the Beast, Vogue Singapore, and Backstage.
This article was originally published on The Daily Beast and partially republished here, with permission.
