HOUSTON — The ex-mother-in-law of the Lakewood Church shooter arrived in Houston on Monday night.
She spoke to KHOU 11 after she went through customs at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
She said there were warning signs that could have prevented what happened at the megachurch on Sunday afternoon.
Walli Carranza said she's hopeful her grandson will survive after the 7-year-old was shot in his head while his mother engaged in a shootout with off-duty officers who were working security at the curch. As of Monday night, the boy remained in critical condition.
Genesse Moreno, 36, was killed by those off-duty officers after she opened fire with an AR-15 inside the church.
Carranza said that when she heard the news, she had a feeling it could be her former daughter-in-law.
Her suspicions were correct.
"The fact that she wasn't able to kill anyone else was a blessing," Carranza said.
Moreno brought her son with her when she went to the church on Sunday afternoon. She was armed with two guns and opened fire right when she and the boy got inside. The off-duty officers returned fire, killing her. The motive for the shooting is still unknown.
Carranza said Moreno had a history of mental illness and her family had raised red flags for years.
"She had a particular kind of schizophrenia that caused her to become violent," she said. "She threatened her husband, my own son, and we still couldn't get intervention."
Carranza said she's frustrated with the system that she believes failed their family.
"We asked for help from CPS. ... We asked for help from police and received it many times but she was still allowed to own guns," Carranza said.
The grandmother is heartbroken by what her grandson had to go through.
"The terror of yesterday ... this didn't just happen, there were weeks and weeks before that. He must have been terrorized," she said.
Carranza believes her grandson will pull through.
"He is a fighter. He's a small Carranza. He's a fighter," she said.
Carranza said Moreno attended Lakewood but she's not sure why she targeted the church. She said she thinks the custody battle over her son had something to do with it but thinks her mental health played a bigger role.
