What we all know in regards to the Minneapolis faculty shooter
By CLAUDIA LAUER, BRUCE SCHREINER and HANNAH FINGERHUT, Related Press
Authorities are working to be taught the motive of the shooter who fired right into a Minneapolis Catholic faculty’s church throughout Mass, killing two kids and injuring 17 worshippers.
Officers recognized the shooter as Robin Westman, 23, and stated Westman was discovered useless within the parking zone from what they imagine was a self-inflicted gunshot. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara stated authorities have been looking out a automobile within the parking zone believed to be the shooter’s and three related residences within the space. In addition they have been scouring content material that Westman allegedly scheduled to be launched on YouTube and has since been faraway from the platform.
The FBI is investigating Wednesday’s capturing as an act of home terrorism and hate crime concentrating on Catholics, officers stated.
What authorities stated
The shooter — armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol — approached the aspect of the church at Annunciation Catholic Faculty and shot via the home windows towards the kids sitting within the pews throughout Mass simply earlier than 8:30 a.m.
O’Hara stated Westman used all three weapons, fired dozens of rounds and tried to barricade the doorways on one aspect of the church.
Westman legally bought the weapons, had no identified legal historical past and acted alone, the chief stated.
The shooter’s mom labored at Annunciation
An August 2021 put up on the Fb web page for the Church of the Annunciation celebrated the retirement of Mary Grace Westman after 5 years working there. A church publication from 2016 introduced her hiring as a brand new administrative assistant within the enterprise workplace and stated she was a member of Saint Agnes Church in St. Paul.
It’s not clear if Robin Westman ever attended church, visited the grounds or was enrolled at school at Annunciation. A telephone name and textual content message to a cellphone quantity listed as belonging to Mary Grace Westman was not answered Wednesday afternoon.
Related Press reporters tried to succeed in the shooter’s father at an handle listed as his residence, however no person answered the door. Cellphone calls and textual content messages to numbers related to Robin Westman’s siblings additionally weren’t answered.
A spokesperson for the Archdiocese declined to reply questions when approached on the church Wednesday.
What else is thought in regards to the shooter
Federal officers referred to Westman as transgender. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey condemned anybody who would use the capturing to villainize the transgender neighborhood.
In 2020, a decide accredited a petition, signed by Westman’s mom, asking for a reputation change from Robert to Robin, saying the petitioner “identifies as a feminine and needs her title to replicate that identification.”
Westman’s uncle, former Kentucky state lawmaker Bob Heleringer, advised The Related Press that he barely knew Robin Westman however was watching protection of Wednesday’s tragedy.
When reached by telephone, after an extended pause, Heleringer initially stated, “I don’t know what to say.”
“I want he had shot me as an alternative of harmless schoolchildren,” Heleringer added.
Heleringer stated Robin is the youngest baby of one in every of his sisters. He stated he final noticed Robin at a household marriage ceremony a number of years in the past however has not had contact with Robin since then.
What was posted on-line
Police stated they have been conscious of time-released video and writings which will have come from the shooter. On a YouTube channel titled “Robin W” there have been at the very least two movies posted earlier than the channel was taken down by website directors. The movies by no means present the face of the particular person talking.
In a single video that was about 10 minutes lengthy, a cellphone digital camera pans to indicate a cache of weapons, ammunition and loaded magazines with sayings written on them together with “kill Donald Trump” and “The place is your God?” Some have been written in Cyrillic.
In the course of the video, the particular person filming sings the phrase “tomorrow” and says, “I’m sorry to my household… that’s the one folks I’m sorry to.” Additionally, “I remorse every little thing. I didn’t ask for all times. You didn’t ask for demise.”
At one level, the particular person holds up a smaller firearm from the cache and says, “This one is for me. In case I want it.”
The video additionally reveals a letter written to the particular person’s household, apologizing for what the capturing will imply for them, expressing love for them, and saying to alter their title and “transfer on.”
A second, virtually 20-minute-long video reveals two completely different journals. The primary is greater than 150 pages, all written in what seems to be the Cyrillic alphabet. The second journal had a final entry dated 8-21-25 and was greater than 60 pages and likewise written solely in Cyrillic.
The second pocket book had a sticker on the within cowl depicting a semiautomatic AK-style rifle on high of a trans equality delight flag. Subsequent to it was a sticker for the band KMFDM. One of many shooters within the 1999 Columbine Faculty capturing posted the band’s lyrics on his web site previous to the rampage.
The German industrial band has issued statements repeatedly condemning violence and faculty shootings. However in a number of excessive profile shootings since Columbine, shooters have had shirts, stickers or different references to the band as a reference to the Columbine capturing.
In the course of the video, the particular person may be heard mumbling and respiratory closely. “I’ll in all probability simply add a video on the day,” the particular person says earlier than flipping to what seems to be a drawing of the structure of a church, pointing to 2 exterior home windows after which stabbing the illustration with an extended knife.
Lauer reported from Philadelphia, Schreiner from Shelbyville, Kentucky, and Fingerhut from Des Moines, Iowa. AP author Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.
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