by A child was seriously injured Sunday afternoon after a woman opened fire at a Christian megachurch in Houston led by Joel Osteen, the televangelist and pastor, authorities said.
Shortly before 2 p.m., the woman, wielding a rifle, dressed in a trench coat and carrying a backpack, entered the Lakewood church, among the largest congregations in the U.S. She came with a child about 4 or 5 years old, Chief Troy Finner of the Houston Police Department said at a news conference Sunday.
Two off-duty law enforcement officers who were working at the church on Sunday shot and killed the woman after she opened fire, Chief Finner said.
The boy was also shot, although it is not clear by whom. He was in critical condition in a hospital. A man in his 50s who was shot in the leg was hospitalized in stable condition, the chief said.
The woman, who officials described as being in her 30s, also threatened to have a bomb and appeared to have sprayed an unidentified substance on the ground, Chief Finner said. Authorities did not find any explosives, he said.
“She had a long gun and it could have been a lot worse,” he said. The motive for the shooting was unclear.
The shooting took place as a Spanish service began. The church, attended each week by 45,000 people, draws an even larger audience for Mr. Osteen’s sermons online and on television.
Videos published in the church social networks It appeared to show parishioners standing and cheering Sunday as a band played on stage. Another showed Mr. Osteen, son of Lakewood’s founder and who took over the church in 1999, addressing parishioners.
Osteen is one of the country’s best-known preachers in the prosperity gospel movement, which teaches that God materially rewards people who are faithful to Him. His sermons are known for being simple, optimistic, and bordering on self-help.
“I’m confused, but we’re going to stay strong,” Osteen said at the news conference. “There are forces of evil, but the forces of God are stronger than that.”
The church website said the regularly scheduled online service for Sunday night had been cancelled.
Del Davis, 71, and his wife, Denise, were inside the church and were leaving when Davis said he heard gunshots. An avid gun collector and retired paramedic, he said he immediately realized they were gunshots.
“I know gunshots when I hear them,” he said. “And I could smell the gun smoke.”
He said he and his wife, who volunteer at the church, fled when the crowd dispersed. “It’s always packed,” he said of services at the church.
Another witness told the television station. Khou who was inside the church when he heard several gunshots and saw a person holding a firearm. She said she ran to a smaller room where she took shelter with 10 other people, including a child.
“We were grateful,” the woman told KHOU. “It could have been worse.”
Ruth Graham contributed reports.
