Police ID Gunman in Minneapolis Shooting as 23-Year-Old

The gunman who killed two children and wounded 17 others in a mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis on Wednesday has been identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara confirmed Westman's identity, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported, and said the rifle, shotgun, and pistol Westman allegedly used were lawfully purchased. 

Police are also investigating whether a series of YouTube videos shared on an account hours before the shooting were connected to Westman, law enforcement sources told the New York Post. A video allegedly made by the gunman showed the phrases "kill Donald Trump" and "for the children" scrawled on gun magazines.

The Post also reported that Westman was a transgender woman, applying for a name change from Robert to Robin in Dakota County at the age of 17, according to court documents. That name change was granted in January 2020. The petition added that Westman "identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification."

In one video of the manifesto, a hand slowly turns the pages of a red notebook, which is laid out on top of what appear to be schematic gun diagrams, the Post reported. The video also showed diary entries written in English and Russian.

Each page is filled with messy, hard-to-read scrawl, and occasional plumes of smoke rise from the bottom of the screen as the person turning the pages coughs and sometimes lets out a maniacal giggle. Westman goes into great detail about his decision to target Annunciation.

On another page, Westman wrote, "I am feeling good about annunciation. It seems like a good combo of easy attack form and devastating tragedy and I want to do more research. I have concerns about finding a large enough group. I want to avoid any parents, but pre and post school drop off.

"Maybe I could attack an event at the on-site church," Westman wrote, according to the Post.
"I think attacking a large group of kids coming in from recess is my best plan. ... Then from there I can go inside and kill, going for as long as I can."

In another entry, Westman wrote, "If I carry out a racially motivated attack, it would be most likely against filthy Zionist jews," before calling Jewish people "entitled" and "penny-sniffing" and adding "FREE PALESTINE!"

Westman also mused about a grand "final act," stating a desire to take out "a target of political or societal significance" before dying, the Post reported.

"Targets like [Elon] Musk, Trump or some significant exec."

Westman also expressed admiration for mass shooters like Adam Lanza, who shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

"I have a deep fascination with one man in particular: Adam Lanza," he wrote in the journal on May 23, the Post reported. "Sandy Hook was my favorite, I think, exposure of school shootings."

Public records showed Robin Westman's father, James Westman, owns a home in south Minneapolis, less than a mile from Annunciation Church, where the attack occurred, the Star Tribune reported. Police were stationed outside the home, which was cordoned off with crime scene tape.

Robin Westman's mother answered a cellphone call in tears but told a Star Tribune reporter she did not know if her child was the shooter.

One source told the Star Tribune that Robin Westman's mother once worked at Annunciation. The church said in 2021 that Robin Westman's mother provided "wonderful hospitality" in a Facebook post announcing her departure. 

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told The New York Tiimes that Westman was believed to have been a former student at the school.

A 2017 Annunciation yearbook showed that Robin Westman, who went by Robert at the time, attended the school for at least one year.

O'Hara said the shooter approached the side of the church and shot dozens of rounds through the windows toward the children sitting in the pews during the first Mass of the school year.

O'Hara said 17 of the wounded included 14 children, with two in critical condition. He said police rescued multiple children who were hiding inside the church, as other first responders tended to the victims and took them to area hospitals.