7-year-old boy shot at Joel Osteen church undergoes surgery, loses part of frontal lobe, suffers cardiac arrest, on life support

The paternal grandmother of the young boy who was shot in the head during an attack committed by his mother with a firearm at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston on Sunday has provided an update on his condition.

Walli Carranza said that 7-year-old Samuel is fighting for his life after having part of his frontal lobe removed and suffering multiple cardiac arrests.
 

"Samuel has lost a major part of what makes us who we are.....a portion of his frontal lobe," Carranza wrote in a post on Facebook. "Half of his right skull has to be surgically removed during two surgeries done in less than 24 hours."

"He was in cardiac arrest multiple times," she added, noting that, "no one can determine whether he has significant brain activity because his scalp tissue is too friable to allow the attachment of EEG wires."

Carranza went on to slam elected officials at all levels of government for her grandson's fate, saying his right to life was superseded by his mother's right to own a gun despite having serious mental health issues.

"Because CPS of Harris and Montgomery County," she stated, "despite more than 20 reports of neglect and medical abuse and medical neglect and reckless endangerment by the mother who was caught with guns in her diaper bag and purse and car DID NOTHING!"

"My faith tradition demands of me compassion and I have it for my deceased daughter-in-law," Carranza, a rabbi, added. "She had schizophrenia and now we know, anti-social personality disorder. Her brain was broken."

She questioned why the system had failed her family, asking, "What is the excuse for those who knew and did nothing and for legislators who refuse to allow red flag laws but do allow anyone to buy an assault weapon?"

Samuel's mother, Gennese Moreno, was shot dead by officers after opening fire in the megachurch. Moreno was given custody of him after divorcing his biological father, Quito, in 2022.

The divorce records said that Moreno "demonstrates no attachment to the child" and calls him "the boy" instead of using his name. Moreno was also said to not "make eye contact with him."

CPS investigated the family on several occasions, and Moreno had "a history of erratic paranoid, stalking behavior and was diagnosed as exhibiting Munchausen by proxy." Moreno was also said to have stored a loaded gun in Samuel's diaper bag.