On Monday, word spread like wildfire that the alleged shooter of the Houston megachurch belonging to Joel Olsteen was a pro-Palestinian terrorist who had the message “Free Palestine” written on the rifle. It was also discovered that the shooter was transgendered. For hours, far-left MSNBC refused to update their on-air reporting to inform viewers of the likely motive behind the attack. But while CNN News Central had reported the “Free Palestine” message, they danced about the shooter’s transgenderism.
“New this morning, sources are telling us the woman who shot up a megachurch in Houston Sunday, used an AR-15 with the words ‘Free Palestine’ on it,” co-host Sara Sidner announced.
Co-host John Berman spoke with CNN chief law enforcement analyst John Miller, who was the one who broke the story for the network. Miller explained that the “Free Palestine” message was a strong “indicator” of the shooter’s motive given that messages on firearms have been used in different attacks for different reasons in the past:
BERMAN: What more are you learning about a possible motive here?
MILLER: Well, there's an indicator which is on the rifle, the words “Free Palestine” were written. We have seen writing on the rifle before in some of these other incidents. So, there is an indicator that this is someone who studied prior shootings. We saw it in the Buffalo shooting in the supermarket; we saw it in the New Zealand shooting in the mosque where the rifle kind of becomes the communique.
Miller danced around the evidence that the shooter was also transgender. He admitted that authorities knew the shooter was a “37-year-old woman” whose “identity may have crossed with other identities at different times.”
“So, they're trying to sort through what is the back story here, and is there a political motive which could make this categorized as a case of terrorism,” he added.
At the mention of a motive that involved terrorism, Berman wanted Miller to drill down further: “Talk to us more about that because that is where it goes to a different level. ‘Free Palestine’ written on the gun. They're looking for a political motive which would mean what?”
“Which would mean, is this an act of political terrorism where a location was selected because it's symbolism and wide audience, as a way to gain attention to that,” Miller explained, “or is this another case of an unhinged person who has gone back and forth between what they call the salad bar of different grievances where that was one of the things in the mix.”
As he was wrapping up the segment, Miller commented that “there's a lot going on in the background here trying to figure out who she was, what her story is, and what exactly she was trying to do,” but the message on the rifle was an “interesting indicator.”
As of the publication of this piece, it has been over four hours since CNN first reported on-air that the rifle had “Free Palestine” written on it, and MSNBC still had not mentioned it.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN News Central
February 12, 2024
9:20:21 a.m. Eastern(…)
JOHN BERMAN: And one woman is dead and a 5-year-old is in critical condition after a shooting at Joel Osteen's church. We have new reporting just in on what was found written on the gun used in the shooting.
(…)
9:24:50 a.m. Eastern
SARA SIDNER: New this morning, sources are telling us the woman who shot up a megachurch in Houston Sunday, used an AR-15 with the words “Free Palestine” on it.
(…)
9:27 a.m. Eastern
BERMAN: With us now is John Miller, CNN chief law enforcement analyst. And John, you were just hearing from Ed quoting your new reporting on this. What more are you learning about a possible motive here?
JOHN MILLER: Well, there's an indicator which is on the rifle, the words “Free Palestine” was written. We have seen writing on the rifle before in some of these other incidents. So, there is an indicator that this is someone who studied prior shootings. We saw it in the Buffalo shooting in the supermarket; we saw it in the New Zealand shooting in the mosque where the rifle kind of becomes the communique.
But we don't really know if that is the full breadth of the motive. That's why federal authorities were executing search warrants last night at the home looking for computers, any written documents, thumb drives, social media, online. They're really peeling back through the identity of this person.
Now, we know she's a 37-year-old woman. We know they have her name, but we also know that her identity may have crossed with other identities at different times. So, they're trying to sort through what is the back story here, and is there a political motive which could make this categorized as a case of terrorism.
BERMAN: Talk to us more about that because that is where it goes to a different level. “Free Palestine” written on the gun. They're looking for a political motive which would mean what?
MILLER: Which would mean, is this an act of political terrorism where a location was selected because it's symbolism and wide audience, as a way to gain attention to that, or is this another case of an unhinged person who has gone back and forth between what they call the salad bar of different grievances where that was one of the things in the mix.
And right now they're backtracking through this person's life to try and figure out who is she, what was the relationship of the child, and why did this happen. When they did the search of the backpack, no explosives were found. They did the scan of the car. Same thing, negative results. But at the house – search warrant – aside from looking for things that would go to motive, they also found several chemicals which could be, could be explosive precursors. When she walked into the church, she poured some kind of liquid on the floor which they said was deemed to be nonhazardous.
So, there's a lot going on in the background here trying to figure out who she was, what her story is, and what exactly she was trying to do. Which was -- was it to start a fire? Was it to do something else? A lot of unanswered questions, but an interesting indicator.
BERMAN: All right. We know you're on it. John Miller, keep us posted because, obviously, you do have a lot of questions and a lot of feelers out there. Thank you very much.
