Following a Sunday capturing at a Houston megachurch that wounded two folks, conservatives have seized on points of the alleged perpetrator’s identification — and misinformation about it — to additional their assaults on trans folks and immigrants.
Police have disclosed that the shooter beforehand used female and male names as aliases, whereas noting that she persistently recognized as feminine. Moreover, police mentioned that she was the organic mom of a kid who was significantly injured within the capturing. In addition they revealed that she had a label that learn “Palestine” on the gun that was used, and had produced antisemitic writings that officers assume could possibly be associated to a familial dispute.
To this point, regulation enforcement continues to be working to ascertain a motive, however the stories of aliases have already led to incorrect claims that the shooter was a trans girl and that this facet of her identification was tied to the assault.
Some on the suitable — together with lawmakers and commentators — have amplified these claims, utilizing them to recommend this act of violence was an instance of the menace they declare trans folks pose. Sure conservatives additionally highlighted the shooter’s background as an immigrant from El Salvador and used this info to assault migrants.
Along with advancing their tradition conflict messaging, specializing in the shooter’s identification arguably helped Republicans divert consideration from the difficulty of gun management and the necessity for extra firearm laws within the wake of one other scary capturing.
It’s a response that’s much like the conservative response to a 2023 faculty capturing in Nashville, when distinguished GOP pundits additionally used the shooter’s transgender identification to reiterate false claims about how trans persons are harmful. And it’s one which reveals how that is turning into a extra frequent device within the GOP’s messaging playbook.
For instance, conservative commentator Benny Johnson linked the Lakewood capturing with the Nashville capturing and one other capturing in Denver, the place the perpetrators have been transgender. Johnson claimed that these incidents have been proof that “the trendy LGBTQIA+ motion is radicalizing activists into terrorists.”
After any mass capturing, it’s price asking questions on the way it occurred and the way completely different political actions or coverage decisions might have contributed. However given the lack of know-how in regards to the shooter’s motive or common views — and the outright factual inaccuracies about her — this response from the suitable seems to be merely capitalizing on this tragedy to advance their political goals.
The GOP response additionally comes as Republicans have pushed a swath of hardline anti-trans insurance policies and anti-immigrant insurance policies each on the federal stage and in states throughout the nation. Implicitly, their statements recommend that violence just like the Houston capturing proves why such harsh insurance policies are justified.
What we all know in regards to the Lakewood Church capturing
Legislation enforcement has but to reveal a motive and continues to be investigating the rationale for the assault.
Nonetheless, it’s been established {that a} 36-year-old girl entered Houston’s Lakewood Church — one of many largest megachurches within the nation, and one led by superstar televangelist Joel Osteen — round 2 pm native time Sunday, forward of a day service.
The lady, who lived in a suburb about 50 miles away from the church, had her 7-year-old son together with her and commenced capturing an assault-style rifle shortly after getting into the constructing. The suspect was shot and killed by two off-duty law enforcement officials who have been appearing as personal safety for the church on the time. Two folks have been injured, together with the alleged perpetrator’s 7-year-old son, who was shot within the head, although it’s unclear who shot him. The shooter’s son stays in vital situation on the hospital. The opposite sufferer was a 57-year-old man who was shot within the leg and is in steady situation.
Police filings point out that the suspect’s mom had beforehand gone to providers at Lakewood. Per regulation enforcement, the shooter had a psychological well being historical past and a number of previous arrests, however she was in a position to receive a gun legally and had used it to threaten relations and neighbors. The Related Press reported that the suspect had been positioned beneath emergency detention in 2016.
Little is understood in regards to the Palestine sticker and the antisemitic writings that have been discovered. The shooter had undergone an allegedly contentious divorce and police have floated the speculation she could have had a battle together with her ex-husband’s household, a few of whom are Jewish.
The suitable is utilizing the shooter’s identification to make political assaults
In latest months, Republicans nationally and domestically have launched rhetorical and coverage assaults in opposition to trans folks and immigrants, with this capturing marking their newest effort to proceed them.
As Vox’s Nicole Narea and Fabiola Cineas have reported, anti-trans assaults throughout the nation have centered on treating trans folks as a menace to girls’s sports activities and women’ locker rooms, and on treating medical care as a menace to trans youngsters. A minimum of 19 states throughout the nation have enacted legal guidelines proscribing youngsters’ entry to gender-affirming care.
Republicans have additionally been centered on attacking migrants and describing them as a part of an “invasion” of america, arguing that unchecked immigration will end in extra criminals and gang members getting into the nation and abusing public providers. Equally, as each Republicans and Democrats have supported Israel’s army offensive in response to Hamas’s October 7 assault, there’s additionally been pushback towards individuals who help Palestinian rights, together with congressional rebukes.
By concentrating on these teams, Republicans have sought to capitalize on folks’s fears of trans folks and migrants, and to recommend that the GOP’s insurance policies are geared toward defending their voters from these teams and their actions. In citing a few of the Houston shooter’s traits, conservatives sought to level to her as a concrete instance of the risks their insurance policies are purportedly searching for to protect folks from.
In doing so, many have been pointed in sharing the supposed particulars of the shooter’s background, providing inaccurate posts like Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-TX) on X, previously often called Twitter: “Church shooter was a migrant girl who apparently identifies as a person and had a ‘Palestine’ sticker on the rifle.”
Commentators like Johnson and the group behind the conservative social media account @LibsofTikTok additionally claimed that the shooter was transgender and emphasised that she was an immigrant from El Salvador.
The LGBTQ Texas Church shooter was a migrant from El Salvador. She has an extended legal historical past relationship again to 2005. She was additionally a Bernie supporter, had a “free palestine” sticker on her gun, and recognized as transgender.
This story goes to vanish actually quick.
H/t… pic.twitter.com/BHjvb6MVz9
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 12, 2024
As police clarified, the shooter within the Lakewood Church case is not trans. Some conservative media retailers, together with Fox Information, altered their framing of the capturing in response to this announcement, although others appear decided to emphasise this level as a means of amplifying their critiques of trans folks and the opposite teams the shooter really belonged to.
