MINNEAPOLIS — A shooter who fired dozens of bullets into a Catholic school prayer service and killed two children and injured 14 others was 23-year-old Robin Westman, Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed. Westman shot herself to death outside the church Circumstances suggest that the attack was methodically premeditated. Three weapons were found — a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. The weapons had all been recently purchased and done so legally by Westman, the chief said. Also bespeaking premeditation was a manifesto that was pre-programmed to go live on You Tube simultaneous to the attack. Other fragmentary information that surfaced early in the investigation:
> Westman was believed to be a former student at the Annunciation parish school. The school has 375 students through eighth grade. The two students who died were 8 and 10 years old. Three adults at the Mass were wounded.
> Westman’s mother served as secretary at the Church school and church until she retired in 2021.
> The mother went to court in 2019 to change Westman’s first name legally from Robert to Robin to reflect gender preference. Westman was 17 at the time. Her name change was approved.
Westman. Dead by her own hand at Annunciation church school.
> The You Tube manifesto was taken down at police request soon after the shooting. Police Chief O’Hara said investigators were examining the manifesto and other social media posts for possible motives. Chief Ohara said some passages appear in a Balto-Slavic language, perhaps Russian, but mostly were in English.
> > In Washington the Trump-appointed FBI director Kash Patel said he regarded the shooting as “domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.” It was unclear whether Patel was speculating, guessing or had evidence.
> Westman left a social media trail of photos and videos of weapons and bullets and long diary entries. There appear to be depictions of explosive devices scrawled with violent language. Some entries contain descriptions of children being killed. One video showed what appeared to be a sketch of the Annunciation sanctuary drawn from memory.