HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — As promised, the Houston Police Department increased its overnight presence in Third Ward between Saturday night into Sunday morning. This came after neighbors voiced their concerns about the area’s high crime to Chief Troy Finner during a community meeting Thursday.
Still, just an hour after HPD had a press conference Saturday night, their officers responded to a shooting where the victim was rushed to the hospital in serious condition.
Investigators said around 11:30 p.m., two people were dropping someone off on Rosalie near Milby. HPD was told a stranger got into their car and started smoking a cigarette. They claimed that they told him to get out, which he did. But he allegedly came back and shot at the car at least three times.
The driver was transported to the hospital in serious condition with injuries to his chest and limbs. Officers received a description of the suspect and were able to detain him shortly after, HPD said.
Two guns were also recovered from the scene.
This comes less than a week after another shooting occurred about two miles away. Last Monday, a homeowner’s camera captured dozens of gunshots being fired at the intersection of Arbor and Emancipation. HPD said a man was shot and crashed his car before rushing to a nearby club for help.
“You think we’re going to just stand by and let you drive down the streets, shooting guns, discharging weapons, and shooting at police? We’re not going to tolerate that. I’ve been very successful. Not just me but my entire team when we step our feet into a particular neighborhood. We have good results,” Finner said.
Chief Finner and Houston City Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz then held a community town hall Thursday, where dozens of Third Ward residents arrived and voiced their concerns. They called for increased patrols overnight, surveillance cameras on certain streets, and noise meters around bars and nightclubs.
“What I’ve learned in 34 years of policing is you don’t set plans until you’ve talked to community members because the only way you’re going to address true problems, crime, and quality of life issues is with the community,” Finner said.
In the meeting, Finner promised greater police presence in the neighborhood beginning this weekend. He joined his patrol officers overnight shortly after the press conference, where he said one of their priorities would be to talk to owners of bars and nightclubs in the area. Residents have claimed these nightlife businesses are a big contributor to the crime.
“If people want to walk down the street in the evenings and at night. I want them to be able to do that, to get sleep. Just because the club is down the street on the same block, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to get rest when you need rest,” Finner said.
HPD Commander Sonny Nguyen said that as of 10:30 p.m. Saturday, they had confiscated three assault rifles and three pistols off the streets. Officers made numerous traffic stops, issued 20 citations for parking, towed six cars, and cited people for other violations.
Community members said they would like to see more measures implemented, other than increased law enforcement patrol, to combat crime in the area.
In a statement to ABC13 from Evans Shabazz’s office, she wrote that they are allocating funds to purchase safety cameras and analyzing which streets need additional lighting.
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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The Houston Police Department suspended more than 260,000 incident reports made during the last eight years, including some for violent crimes, citing a “lack of personnel.”
HPD Chief Troy Finner said last month that his department was reviewing 4,000 alleged sexual assault incident reports that were suspended due to a “lack of personnel” code that was wrongfully assigned to those cases.
Two weeks later, after an internal review, HPD identified 260,000 incidents dating back to 2016 that were assigned the “suspended – lack of personnel” code, all while victims were unaware their cases were not being investigated.
In the last month, two assistant chiefs have been demoted, Houston Mayor John Whitmire appointed what he’s calling an “independent” panel and HPD is conducting its own internal affairs investigation.
Finner admits he knew about the code in November 2021 and said he instructed staff to stop using it then. But, HPD hasn’t provided 13 Investigates with documents or details on how or if he informed staff or followed-up on his previous concerns with the code.
Our 13 Investigates team has sent dozens of open records requests to HPD and Mayor Whitmire’s office to dig into when the cases first were suspended due to lack of staffing, when HPD and city leaders learned about it and how they responded. But, HPD is not releasing that information, instead asking the Texas Attorney General if they can withhold those documents.
One of 13 Investigates’ requests for memos and presentations related to the “lack of personnel” code was sent to the AG, with HPD arguing it’s part of an “open investigation being conducted by HPD’s Internal Affairs Division of alleged improper police procedure.”
HPD also argues some of the requested information was “draft verbiage of an incomplete memorandum of understanding” and “consists entirely of interagency correspondence concerning the policy matter at issue and was never intended for public release.”
Although HPD released some data on the suspended incident reports, they did not release everything we asked for, including the names of the individuals who coded reports with the “SL” status.
As 13 Investigates continues to hold city leaders accountable, here’s what we know so far.
2013: Thousands of HPD cases not investigated
As an investigation continues into the suspension of 260,000 HPD cases, new details revealed city council members sounded the alarm on this 10 years ago.
A study conducted by Public Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C., and Justex Systems Inc. in Huntsville identifies key issues with HPD, including staffing concerns and thousands of cases that were not investigated due to lack of personnel. The report was published in May 2014.
The study found, “A survey of Investigative Division commanders revealed excessively high numbers of cases with leads that were not investigated in 2013 due to lack of personnel: for Burglary and Theft, nearly 15,000; nearly 3,000 assault cases in the Homicide Division; nearly 3,000 hit-and-runs. The situation is so egregious in Burglary and Theft that a separate increase (in investigative staffing) is recommended … for that unit. However, every unit should be staffed such that all cases with leads receive at least some attention. Achieving that end should be the focus of the allocation of any new resources.”
June 2, 2014: Cases not investigated situation ‘cries for attention’
The May 2014 study was presented to city council members at a Public Safety Committee meeting on June 2, 2014.
Nearly 3,000 hit-and-runs were not followed up where there were leads, and I emphasize where there were leads, not simply cases that were dead in the water, no place to go with them.
Dr. Larry Hoover to city council in 2014
During that meeting, Dr. Larry Hoover, who at the time was President of Justex Systems Inc., said the cases that were not investigated is a “situation which cries for attention” and that “every unit should be staffed such that all cases with leads receive at least some attention rather than go in the file cabinet.”
“Nearly 3,000 hit-and-runs were not followed up where there were leads, and I emphasize where there were leads, not simply cases that were dead in the water, no place to go with them,” he said.
June 5, 2014: City addresses ‘mean-spirited’ editorial on cases not investigated
Then-City council member Jack Christie said he wants to give then-HPD Chief Charles McClelland a chance to respond to a “mean-spirited” newspaper editorial that highlights the 20,000 cases that were not investigated.
McClelland said the issue is not unique to HPD.
“There has never been a time that I have been employed that the Houston Police Department has the capacity to investigate every crime that’s been reported to the agency,” said McClelland, who at the time had been with HPD for 37 years. “They’re very minor crimes. I don’t want to dismiss that if someone was a victim of crime, but they are. But they have lower (or) no solvability factors, that’s why they’re not worked.”
However, the study’s authors contradicted that, saying some of those cases that weren’t investigated did have leads.
Still, McClelland said the study recommended 100 more detectives, but added that staff would “not give the capacity to work 20,000 cases.”
During fiscal year 2015, there were 5,305 classified personnel. Nearly a decade later, there are fewer officers than when the work study identified staffing as an issue. There are 5,187 classified personnel at HPD in 2024.
2016: HPD says staff first started using ‘SL’ code
Staff began using “suspended – lack of personnel” code to label incident reports in 2016, according to current police Chief Troy Finner.
Data HPD provided 13 Investigates shows the “SL” code was used 15 times from 1986 through 2013. It was used a few hundred times in the next few years. Then, in 2018 HPD data shows use of the “SL” code skyrocketed and was used 34,702 times that year.
13 Investigates reached out to Art Acevedo, who was HPD chief in 2016.
In a statement, he told us “I’ve been asked to comment on the use of the case management code, ‘SL, suspended – lack of personnel’ by investigative units at the Houston Police Department to suspend or close criminal investigations. To be clear, the use of this code was not authorized by me nor was I apprised of its use. While acknowledging the longstanding issue of understaffing within HPD, along with the challenges posed by outdated record management and analytical technology, it was my expectation that comprehensive investigations be conducted and completed whenever evidence and leads were present.”
November 2021: Finner learns of internal ‘Suspended – Lack of Personnel’ code
About six months into being police chief, Finner learns staff are suspending incident reports due to lack of personnel using a code in the department’s internal records management system.
“At that time, I directed the Special Victims Division to stop using this code,” Finner said on Feb. 22, 2024, his first news conference addressing the issue.
February 7, 2024: Chief Finner learns adult sex assault investigations suspended due to lack of staff
More than two years after the police chief said he instructed staff to stop using an internal code to label incident reports suspended for lack of personnel, Finner said he learned it was still being used to assign statuses to incident reports.
It was unacceptable then. It is unacceptable now.
“I immediately ordered a review of those cases. That code was put into effect in 2016. It will not be used again in my administration. It was unacceptable then. It is unacceptable now,” Finner said.
Finner said he launched an internal investigation and said every sexual assault incident report dating back to 2016 with the suspended code would be reviewed.
February 15, 2024: 13 Investigates receives tip about on suspended cases
13 Investigates received an anonymous tip that sexual assault cases were “suspended due to lack of manpower.”
February 22, 2024: Chief Finner holds first press conference on suspended cases
HPD Chief Troy Finner says over 4,000 adult sexual assault cases will be reviewed after being labeled suspended due to lack of personnel.
Finner announced they have identified 4,017 adult sex crime incident reports that were labeled as suspended due to a lack of personnel. In the last two weeks, he said investigators have already reviewed about 700 reports.
I promise the Houston Police Department will correct this and there will be accountability.
The chief said the number of incident reports slated for review is preliminary and could change over the next 30 days. Part of the investigation involves looking at whether incident reports have been coded incorrectly as sexual assault and weeding through duplicate reports.
“If we have missed investigating even one sexual assault, we have failed,” Finner said. “I promise the Houston Police Department will correct this and there will be accountability.”
Finner said he’s reallocating 32 HPD staff members to support the Adult Sex Crimes Unit and review the incident reports and contact potential sexual assault victims in a trauma-informed way.
February 26, 2024: 260k incident reports suspended due to lack of staff since 2016
The situation at HPD over suspended cases led ABC13 to ask questions at the sheriff’s office about the way they handle “lack of personnel.”
Although Finner initially said there were more than 4,000 adult sex crime incident reports suspended due to lack of staff, a review of other divisions found the issue was more widespread, with one in every 10 incident reports suspended.
“We have determined that department-wide approximately 264,000 such incident reports since 2016 were suspended with this code. That figure represents about 10 percent of the 2.8 million incident reports filed with HPD in the past eight years. Of those 264,000 reports, about 100,000 of them are property crimes,” Finner said in a statement.
Mayor John Whitmire releases a statement saying he is “very concerned.”
“It is unacceptable and I have instructed Chief Finner to be transparent and continue his review as a top priority. Public safety continues to be my highest priority,” Whitmire said.
February 28, 2024: Survivors fear suspended cases will discourage victims
A group of sexual assault survivors addressed the media this morning to discuss their feelings on the news that 4,000 such cases within the Houston Police Department have been suspended due to a lack of personnel.
Sylvia Rodriguez, a sexual assault survivor, was among the people who spoke out at a gathering organized by the Houston Area Women’s Center.
Although her case is not among those that were suspended by HPD, she and other survivors said they still thought it was important for them to share their stories and speak out for other victims of sexual assault whose incident reports may have been suspended.
“This news tells us we don’t matter,” she said. “This is terrible.”
February 29, 2024: Finner says reaching sex assault victims is ‘priority’
Finner forgoes holding a news conference, instead releasing a statement on social media saying, “Right now, our priority remains reaching out and personally contacting those who filed an adult sex crime incident report.”
“This morning, we assembled more than 100 special assignment officers to visit last known addresses of those who filed reports. The officers join the recently assigned 32 investigators and supervisors who are reaching out via phone or email,” Dinner said. “Advocates in our Victim Services Division are also assisting to provide trauma-informed support to survivors. As promised, we will do everything we can to reach every person who filed an adult sex crime incident report.”
March 1, 2024: Finner issues circular on suspended cases
Finner issues a circular with the subject line “CASE STATUS / DISPOSITION CODES” to be read at roll call every day for five days.
It informs staff that the investigative case status code of suspended – lack of personnel is no longer visible in HPD’s internal records management system.
In bold letters, the circular says it “serves as a reminder that the case status code SL (Suspended – Lack of Personnel) shall not be used.”
Finner also instructs commanders to “review the case status codes weekly to ensure compliance with this directive.”
March 6, 2024: Mayor appoints ‘independent panel’
Mayor John Whitmire announced that an independent panel will review the Houston Police Department’s 264,000 suspended cases.
Whitmire said he will appoint an “independent panel” to review HPD’s suspended cases in an effort to ensure transparency.
“I trust and believe Police Chief Troy Finner is doing the best he can to manage the internal investigation, get to the bottom of it, and hold people accountable. The independent panel will be people I also trust to review and validate the outcome and help bring closure to the victims,” Whitmire said. “I am deeply concerned about how and why this happened. The public wants answers and accountability. This process of appointing an independent panel will validate the investigation’s integrity.”
March 7, 2024: Two HPD assistant chiefs demoted
HPD assistant chiefs Kevin Deese and Ernest Garcia were demoted as the department investigates why 260,000 incidents were labeled suspended due to lack of personnel since 2016.
Assistant chiefs are in charge of signing off on changes to the Houston police handbook, which, as of last week, still contained the code allowing cases to go to the wayside.
Police would not say if Deese and Garcia had a hand in approving the handbook or what position they were demoted to.
In particular, the code “suspended – lack of personnel” was placed on reports for sexual assault and other violent crimes, something Finner said should have never happened.
At a news conference, Finner once again promises the suspended due to lack of staff code “should never be used and it will never be used again.”
HPD releases data on the suspended incident reports, which shows this year alone, the code was used 45,063 times.
When looking at all 260,000 incident reports that were labeled suspended due to lack of personnel over the last decade, the Major Assaults/Family Violence Division had the most with 110,690 incident reports given that designation.
Finner said just because there are 260,000 incident reports that were suspended due to lack of staff that doesn’t mean there are that many cases impacted. That’s because he said, for example, in one incident an individual filed nearly 100 reports.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott chimes in on the issue on Twitter, saying, “250,000 crime victims in Houston never even had their crime investigated. That includes thousands of sexual assault victims. The state must impose consequences for this neglect & provide solutions to prevent acts like this that allow criminals to go free.”
March 8, 2024: Finner addresses antiquated records system
Finner releases a statement on social media, saying the city’s “outdated” records management system will be replaced next year.
“The incident report code ‘Suspended – Lack of Personnel’ is hardwired into the system and removing it could cause it to crash,” Finner said. “A policy has been put in place to stop the use of the code. We are noticing what appears to be occasional, inadvertent entries still using this code. As I also stated yesterday, we have an ongoing review system to flag any new entries for prompt correction.”
March 13, 2024: Whitmire names ‘independent review’ panel members
Whitmire announced a five-person “Independent Review Committee” comprised of former councilwoman and state Rep. Ellen Cohen, current Texas Ranger Jeff Owles, city attorney Arturo Michel, Houston deputy inspector general overseeing police reform and accountability Christina Nowak, and reverend and Harris County Sheriff’s Chaplain Leon Preston.
University of Houston-Clear Lake criminology professor Kimberly Dodson, who is not on the panel but has worked on independent panels looking at police agencies outside of Texas, said that she considers it small with just five people.
It’s important for a citizens’ review committee to be diverse, inclusive, and representative of the communities that they serve.
Criminology Professor Kimberly Dodson
Dodson said having a current law enforcement member is troubling because officers tend to know each other. She also said having the city attorney on the panel could be an issue because its position is to protect the city.
“I think it’s important for a citizens’ review committee to be diverse, inclusive, and representative of the communities that they serve to ensure there’s a broad range of perspectives and experiences taken into account,” Dodson said.
Mayor Whitmire says he’ll be keeping a close eye on the investigation into more than a quarter million suspended incident reports by HPD.
March 15, 2024: Woman assaulted while sleeping among HPD cases suspended due to staff
13 Investigates obtained copies of sexual assault and other incident reports HPD marked as suspended due to lack of personnel.
In one report, a 35-year-old woman alleges someone entered her apartment, and she woke up to that person “kissing her buttocks,” according to an HPD report.
That case happened in 2018 and wasn’t followed up due to a lack of personnel.
In another report we obtained, a 33-year-old complained to police that he was “sexually assaulted by the (suspect) who is a friend of a friend.”
It appears the suspect is someone the victim knew and could identify and lead police to if they had investigated, but it was assigned the lack of personnel code.
March 19, 2024: HPD union asks chief to recuse himself
The Houston Police Officers’ Union sent a letter to Mayor Whitmire asking that Chief Finner not have any part in the investigation.
They are requesting the investigation be transferred to the Office of Inspector General or another department not affiliated with HPD, and that “Chief Finner be recused from any involvement in the investigative findings or outcome in the case.”
“Chief Finner is both a key witness in this matter and an individual with an inherent self-interest in the outcome of the investigation, as are the other individuals who are former members of his Senior Executive Command Staff,” according to the letter. “Chief Finner, by virtue of his position as head of the Houston Police Department, is currently supervising the IAD investigation and will ultimately serve as the final decision-maker regarding its findings and outcomes. By any measure, in any profession, this represents a substantial conflict of interest that undermines the fairness and integrity of the investigation.”
The Houston Police Officers’ Union is requesting that Chief Troy Finner not be involved in the investigation into the department’s suspended cases.
March 20, 2024: New HPD assistant chiefs
Finner confirms Commander Adrian Rodriguez and Commander Alvaro Guzman Jr. will be promoted to assistant chiefs.
A woman who walked into a popular Texas megachurch Sunday afternoon with a long gun and her 7-year-old son opened fire before she was killed by law enforcement officers on scene. The gunfire left the child in critical condition and another man injured, officials said.
Authorities are now probing the shooting at televangelist and pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church – roughly 6 miles from downtown Houston.
The woman, identified in a search warrant as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, entered the church shortly before 2 p.m. wearing a trench coat and backpack and opened fire, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said in a Sunday afternoon news conference.
Officers “shot and killed her in self-defense” after she pointed her weapon at them, according to the search warrant released Monday by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
Her son was shot in the head during the shooting and remains in the hospital Monday in critical condition, the police chief said. It’s unclear who fired the shot that injured the child. CNN has reached out to police for more information.
Police have not shared details about a possible motive in the shooting. The injured man was shot in the leg, sought treatment at a hospital and was released, Finner said Monday. The search warrant identified him as Tom George Thomas.
The gunfire unfolded while the church was “in between services” and preparing to go into a Spanish service, Osteen said in Sunday’s news conference.
“I can only imagine if it would have happened during the 11 o’clock service,” he said.
Authorities say a woman opened fire at Lakewood Church on Sunday in Houston, Texas. – Jennifer Lake/SIPAPRE/Sipa/AP
2 off-duty law enforcement officers confronted the shooter
Moreno entered the church accompanied by her son. “Once she entered, at some point she began to fire,” the chief said. One federal law enforcement source told CNN she fired around 30 rounds.
Two off-duty officers were present: a 28-year-old Houston Police Department officer and a 38-year-old agent with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, both with less than five years of service. The two officers engaged the shooter and she was struck, the police chief said. She was pronounced dead at 2:07 pm local time.
The shooter used a legally purchased AR-15 with a “Palestine” sticker on it, police said. A federal law enforcement source previously told CNN “Free Palestine” was written on the gun. She also had a .22 caliber weapon in her bag which was not used in the attack, according to a federal law enforcement source. Investigators are trying to determine whether she was politically motivated or a disturbed individual, the source said.
“I want to commend those officers. She had a long gun and it could have been a lot worse,” Finner said. “But they stepped up and they did their job, and I want to thank them for that.”
Both officers who engaged with the shooter will be placed on administrative duty pending the investigation, as is protocol with officer-involved shootings, Finner said.
“It’s traumatic not only for our community but it’s certainly traumatic for the officers who had to take a life and we worry about their mental health as well, so our prayers are with them,” Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said in Sunday’s news conference.
In this screen grab taken from video provided by KTRK-TV, authorities respond Sunday to a shooting at Lakewood Church, the Houston megachurch of celebrity pastor Joel Osteen. – KTRK-TV ABC13/AP
Shooter had history of criminal charges and mental health problems
Information from Moreno’s social media accounts and local authorities paints a portrait of a single mother with a history of mental health challenges going through the ups and downs of trying to turn her life around and launch a business.
During a Monday news conference, Houston Homicide Commander Christopher Hassig said the shooter used multiple aliases, including both male and female names. Moreno was put under an order for emotional detention in 2016 and she has a mental health history documented by Houston police, Hassig said.
Records from the Texas Department of Public Safety show Moreno had a string of arrests for minor offenses over the last two decades, including possession of marijuana, an assault, illegal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest and a forgery charge. But in her 30s, she described herself on social media as the founder of a real-estate and financial services firm. By her own account on social media pages, she is involved in sales of everything from new condos to shopping malls.
A social media post in March 2020 shows a screenshot of a form letter from Lakewood Church thanking Moreno for her donation.
A search warrant identified the person who opened fire at Lakewood Church in Houston as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36. – Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office
A CNN review showed the story of a bitter custody battle between Moreno and representatives for her ex-spouse’s family played out on her social media accounts. In 2022, when she had her divorce proceeding transferred to county court, according to an attorney who represented her, Moreno was also arrested on a weapons charge, a misdemeanor, which was cleared with two days’ time served in the Fort Bend County Jail.
According to police, there was some sort of family dispute between the shooter and her ex-husband and ex-husband’s family, some of whom are Jewish.
“This might possibly be where all this stems from,” Hassig added. He said police also found antisemitic writings connected with the shooter.
Attorney William Capasso said he represented Moreno in 2021-2022 and told CNN Genesse Ivone Moreno went by the name Jeffrey Moreno Carranza at the time.
Capasso said he later withdrew as her attorney and she represented herself in divorce proceedings.
“I am deeply saddened to learn that Ms. Moreno may be responsible for the tragic events that occurred at the Lakewood Church and pray for the recovery of (the child) and for all of the people that were affected by this terrible tragedy,” Capasso.
Police have said they believe Moreno acted as a “lone wolf” and is not part of a larger group.
Woman also threatened a bomb
Moreno threatened that she had a bomb, but authorities searched her vehicle and backpack and found no explosives, the Houston police chief said.
She was also spraying “some type of substance on the ground,” Finner said, but he did not share further details. Peña said fire authorities were on scene and were going to “take our time to ensure that any issue, any risk that we see is properly vetted.”
“Right now, I can safely say that we have not found anything that is of concern to our community or to this location, but we’re going to take our time to ensure that we look at every aspect,” the fire chief added.
The search warrant for Moreno’s home said she had yellow rope similar to a detonation cord and “substances consistent with the manufacture of explosive devices.”
CNN has reached out to the Houston Fire Department for further information.
On Sunday night, authorities searched Moreno’s home in Conroe, Texas, in connection with the shooting, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed Monday. Spokesperson Melissa Garcia told CNN the ATF-Houston Division was one of the law enforcement agencies involved in the search. The home is about 50 minutes north of Lakewood Church.
The warrant includes searching for any ammunition, firearms, explosives, cell phones, and computers in the home, among other items.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he has been in contact with local and state officials and offered “the full support and resources” of the state to help the community.
“Join Cecilia and me in praying for his community during this difficult time and for the brave men and women in blue who acted quickly to respond to this tragedy,” Abbott added.
First responders and members of law enforcement surround the area after a shooting at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston on Sunday. – Callaghan O’Hare/Reuters
Witness describes ‘erratic’ sound of shots and screaming
With a background in television production, Osteen took over his father’s church in 1999 and built a huge following. His services draw 45,000 attendees to the church weekly, in addition to people around the nation who tune in for online and television sermons, according to his website.
“We’re devastated,” Osteen said. “We’ve been here 65 years and to have somebody shooting at your church…”
A woman who was inside the church at the time of the shooting told CNN affiliate KHOU Osteen was greeting people after the end of the service and she was among the last to meet him.
Carlos Gonzalez, a worship singer, hugs a fellow churchgoer after a shooting at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston. – Callaghan O’Hare/Reuters
Soon after, she told the news station, she heard repeated bangs, almost like “mechanical sounds.”
“It almost sounded like folding tables were being dismantled and dropped to the floor,” she said. “But they were erratic.”
Then, the woman said she heard another set of gunshots and saw people screaming and running. She ran into a room and squeezed inside with multiple other people, including a child. The group put two large wooden slats on the door to keep it from opening, and then, they began to pray.
“We were thankful,” she said. “We could have been a casualty. We could have been shot.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Raja Razek, Andy Rose, Ashley Killough, John Miller, and Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.
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