Church Shooter's Neighbors: Tried to Warn Police for Months

Several neighbors of Genesse Ivonne Moreno, the woman who was killed after opening fire Sunday at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church say they've been sounding the alarm about her for months after having run-ins with her in their neighborhood.

Six women, who live in the north Houston suburb of Conroe, told NBC News that Moreno, 36, had made them afraid of being outside their homes after she displayed firearms and threatened and harassed them, but said officers failed to respond to their complaints about her.

"No one should have died. No one should have been hurt," the president of the neighborhood association, identifying herself only as Jill because of fear of retaliation, commented during a press conference in a driveway in the neighborhood. "This should have been handled years ago, and here we are again."

According to authorities, Moreno started shooting in the Lakewood megachurch between Sunday afternoon services. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said the woman's 7-year-old son was "fighting for his life."

In addition, another victim, 57, has been released from the hospital.

Moreno was shot and killed by two off-duty law enforcement officers who were at the church when she opened fire.

NBC reports there was no answer at an address where Moreno had lived, but late Monday afternoon, someone at the home taped a sign to the front door saying: "I do not want to speak to anyone. Please leave my property. Thank you."

Her neighbors told the media that matters got bad enough in their neighborhood that five of them spoke to elected officials, police, the sheriff's office, and the city's legal department about five years ago.

They further wrote to the neighborhood's property management company and spoke with the firm's lawyer and the media, one woman, Linda Giutta, said.

"We cannot do anything more than what we did," she said. "We tried to stop this. We tried to help her. We tried to help us. We tried to help the public. Something needs to get done."

Another woman, identifying herself only as Heather, said she made a complaint that Moreno had allegedly threatened her with a handgun on July 4, 2022.

Heather said Moreno had screamed expletives at her while she was watering her lawn, and when she walked to Moreno's home, the woman pointed a gun at her. She commented that police in Conroe recorded the matter as a threat.

"We're being told 'see something, say something,' " but "the Conroe PD is not helping us," she said.

Judy Keith, another of Moreno's neighbors, said she stopped her walks in the neighborhood because the woman tried to hit her twice.

"I'm afraid to come down here," she said. "I used to walk my granddaughter down here to the park and I had to stop doing that," Keith said.

The police and council members did not comment on the womens' claims.

Houston Police placed Moreno, who had a documented history of mental health issues, on an emergency detention in 2016.

The woman had been arrested several times since 2005, and in the past pleaded guilty to illegally carrying a weapon and in another incident pleaded to a lesser charge after she had been accused of the assault of a public official.