What's New
A man who threatened to release a deadly nerve gas during Christmas Eve services at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, and blow up the building was arrested by local police on December 24. The threat made by the suspect, according to the city's police department, was unfounded.
Newsweek contacted Lakewood Church for comment on Wednesday via a form on its website.
Why It Matters
Lakewood Church, a non-denominational evangelical Christian megachurch counting more than 45,000 attendees per week, was the site of a violent incident earlier this year.
On February 11, 36-year-old Genesse Moreno walked into the church with her 7-year-old son and opened fire against the congregation, injuring a 47-year-old man. The woman, who was armed with an AR-15-style rifle, had also claimed to be carrying a bomb in her backpack and had sprayed "some type of substance on the ground," CNN reported at the time. She was shot and killed by police officers four minutes after the attack began.
The attack was only one of the many that have happened at a site of worship in the U.S. The deadliest church shooting in the U.S. took place in Texas on November 5, 2017, at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, when a gunman shot 26 people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn baby.
What To Know
The suspect reportedly made a call warning of his threat to the Houston church, saying he had bags of sarin gas which he'd release inside the religious building. At the time, the church on the Southwest Freeway was holding a Christmas Eve candlelight service.
According to what Houston Police Department Lieutenant R. Willkens said of the incident, the man was identified as the same person who had previously called 911 saying he and his sisters were being microwaved from overseas.
Police officers searching the Lakewood Church were able to locate the man there and found duffel bags on site, as well as some clothing, electronic devices and a vial containing fluid. None of these items, Willkens said, posed a threat.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even a small drop of sarin on the skin can cause "sweating and muscle twitching where it touched the skin." Exposure to larger doses of the gas can cause loss of consciousness, cardiac arrest, possibly leading to death, coma, convulsions, paralysis, respiratory failure, and seizures.
What People Are Saying
Houston Police Department Lieutenant R. Willkens: "At the end of the day the threat was fake."
What's Next
The suspect has not been identified by Houston police, but according to reports he is still being held on charges of making a terrorist threat—a third-degree felony.
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