Joe Kovacs declared in a Feb. 12 WorldNetDaily article:
The gun used in Sunday’s shooting at Joel Osteen’s church in Texas reportedly had a pro-Palestinian message written on it, and the shooter has been identified as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, an immigrant from El Salvador who has used male identities.
KHOU-TV in Houston reports “Moreno had a criminal history dating back to 2005, and previously identified as Jeffrey Escalante, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety records search. Prior arrests include failure to stop and give information, assault of a public servant, assault causing bodily injury, forgery, possession of marijuana, theft, evading arrest unlawful carrying weapon.”
ABC News reports “Palestine” was written on the long rifle belonging to a man dressed as a woman who opened fire at the Lakewood Church in Houston, according to a law-enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
“A motive behind the Sunday afternoon shooting has not been determined. Sources said investigators are feverishly going through the social media and writings belonging to the suspect,” the network indicated.
Kovacs did have to make a correction, which isn’t noted until the end of his article: “Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify the sticker on the shooter’s gun said “Palestine,” according to police, not ‘Free Palestine.'” There is no noted correction, however, on how the headline was changed as well; it originally identified the shooter as “transgender” (as shown in the above screenshot), which was later changed to “woman who identified as a man.”
But even with that correction, Kovacs still failed to other information that undermined his narrative. As we documented when the Media Research Center pushed the same framing, the shooter has used male names, largely in attempts at forgery, but has always identified as a woman. As far as the writing on her gun, that may be less about any particular affinity for Palestine than general anti-Semitism and mental illness. Indeed, a Daily Caller article WND published the next day pointed out that the shooter’s neighbors had been threatened by her and contacted law enforcement about her, and Media Matters pointed out that she was able to legally acquire an AR-15 rifle despite previously being placed under an emergency detention order by Houston police.
But Kovacs’ original article has yet to be updated with these facts. That’s just one reason why few people treat WND as a serious and credible source of news.