Bodycam footage of a February shooting at Lakewood Church in Houston showed responding officers confronting an active shooter situation.
In the video, an off-duty female police officer can be heard praying “Father God, just be with us Forgive us of our sins” as officers prepared to approach the shooter.
Genesse Moreno entered the church with a rifle and was shot and killed by security officers, but her 7-year-old son was also critically wounded.
Katherine Schweit, who created the FBI’s active shooter program, said, “It was gripping to listen to the officer asking God to guide them, knowing she needed to move closer as fast as she can. The frightening part, the reality you see in that footage, she doesn’t know what she’s going to face.”
Moreno is seen in the video saying, “Stand down, I have a bomb.”
In the aftermath, the video showed the female officer kneeling by the injured boy and praying “Father God, please bring him close to you.”
Mark Stevens, a retired Houston police detective, said the officers responded quickly despite not knowing what they would face, with one officer pinned down by the shooter at one point. The full graphic video was released by police.
“I mean she just appears. There is no time other than to take immediate action,” explained Stevens.
He added, “Shooting a rifle is a distance thing. I mean, they can pick you off from a long way away. Those officers had to get close enough, so their shots were accurate.”
