The shooter who opened fire at a Minneapolis Catholic school church, killing two children, has been identified as Robin Westman, 23.
Westman, a transgender individual who formerly used the name Robert, fired shots through the stained-glass windows at children seated in the pews within Annunciation Catholic School’s church around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to police reports.
She then turned the gun on herself.
Two children aged eight and 10 were killed in the attack and at least 17 other victims – – 14 children and three adults – were injured.
Officials said they are looking into Westman’s motive but said she has no criminal history.
The shooter, who grew up in Richfield, changed her name to Robin in 2020, at the age of 17, the Daily Mail has learned.
Westman’s mother was an employee at the school before her 2021 retirement and has five other children.
Just hours preceding the shooting, Westman had allegedly shared what seemed to be a manifesto directed at family and friends via a now-removed YouTube account.
Robin Westman, 23, was named as the shooter who killed two children at Annunciation Catholic School’s church Wednesday
A now-deleted YouTube account believed to belong to the shooter posted disturbing content hours before the massacre
Westman identified as a transgender woman and changed her name from Robert to Robin in 2020
The video appeared to show a drawing of a church and showed someone stabbing the drawing repeatedly as a voice said: ‘I’m going to kill myself.’
Additional videos on the YouTube account displayed gun components, a semi-automatic rifle, and a shotgun. The gun magazines were marked with the names of other notorious mass shooters.
The phrases written on the magazines also included ‘for the children’ and ‘where is your God?’
Police said the gunman’s vehicle was parked near the school prior to the attack.
The vehicle and several homes connected to Westman, close to the school, are now being searched. Police said they had found more guns at the homes.
The assailant carried three firearms—a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol—during the incident, and utilized all three, as reported by police. Each of these firearms was acquired legally.
According to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, the shooter approached the side of the church and fired shots through the windows at the children in the pews.
Police noted that at least two of the church doors seemed to have been blocked with two-by-fours prior to the shooting, indicating that the shooter may have intended to prevent people from escaping.
The shooter died by suicide after storming the Annunciation Catholic School’s Church
Police were seen at the home where Westman lived, a short drive from the Catholic school
Parents await news of their children after a reported mass shooting at Annunciation Church
It is unclear if the shooter fired any of the weapons from inside the church or carried out the entire mass shooting outside before going inside.
Westman’s body was found inside.
The victims’ identities have not yet been publicly released.
‘The coward who fired these shots ultimately took his own life in the rear of the church,’ said O’Hara, who added that the gunman acted in a ‘deliberate act of violence’.
‘This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,’ said the police chief, who noted that a wooden plank was placed to barricade some of the side doors.
The students at the Catholic grade school had started school on Monday and were attending mass when the shooter stormed the church.
Founded in 1923, Annunciation Catholic School had 391 students enrolled for the 2023-24 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The school goes from pre-K to eighth grade.
Recent social media posts from the school show children smiling at a back-to-school event, holding up summer art projects, playing together and enjoying ice pops.
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar told MSNBC that a seven-year-old watched as the gunman shot her friends in the back and neck.
Two children aged eight and 10 were killed in the attack and at least 17 other victims – 14 children and three adults – were injured, according to authorities
‘These kids are doing an all-school mass and had to watch several of her friends get shot – one in the back, one in the neck,’ Klobuchar said. ‘And they all got down under the pews.’
The mass shooting came hours after seven people were shot, one fatally, in a separate mass shooting near a Catholic high school in south Minneapolis Tuesday, reported KARE 11.
Police said the suspect, who escaped in a vehicle and does not appear to have been arrested since, fired around 30 rounds from a high-velocity .223 rifle.
Authorities have not confirmed any connection between the shootings.
