The suspect who opened fire Wednesday in Minneapolis at a Catholic school during Mass has been identified by authorities as a person in her early 20s who left behind online videos with disturbing content and writings that referred to suicide.
The suspect was identified as Robin Westman, 23.
The suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after having fired a rifle through the side windows of Annunciation Catholic School’s church, aiming at children sitting in the pews, authorities said.
Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed. Seventeen other people were injured by gunfire: 14 children ages 6 to 15 and three adults in their 80s who were parishioners in the church, officials said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooter was “a male” born under a different first name.
The suspect's parent had filed for a legal name change to "Robin M Westman" in Dakota County in November 2019. The application was granted in January 2020, when Westman was 17, after a hearing.
The filing granting the name change said it was in the best interest of the minor child because the “minor child identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey warned against any hate being directed toward the trans community.
Anyone "using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity," he said at Wednesday's news conference. "We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone. We should be operating from a place of love for our kids."
The suspect had no criminal history, officials said Wednesday, aside from a traffic ticket, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Thursday on MSNBC.
O’Hara added that he does not have any information about any previous mental illness of the shooter, who he said was never confined for mental illness.
Officials recovered a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol used by the suspect, which she legally purchased recently.
Authorities believe Westman acted alone. Search warrants are being executed at the church and three nearby residences associated with her.
"Additional firearms are being recovered from those residences as we speak," O'Hara said.
O’Hara said that authorities were working to determine a motive and that police were aware of a "manifesto" the suspect had timed to be released on YouTube.
“This manifesto appeared to show him at the scene and included some disturbing writings. That content has since been taken down with the assistance of the FBI, and it now remains under active review by our investigators,” O’Hara said.
Westman wrote numerous things on the weapons and magazines featured in the video, including racial slurs, a call for President Donald Trump's death, antisemitic messages and references to the Holocaust and the Catholic Church, according to an NBC News review.
The YouTube channel also included a video of the suspect flipping through the pages of a journal.
In excerpts from the journal, written using the Russian Cyrillic alphabet for English words, the suspect described her fascination with violence and obsession with mass shootings, particularly those who attacked schools. The suspect also discussed suicide, depression, her own racism and the particulars of carrying out a mass shooting.
NBC News had earlier confirmed with law enforcement officials briefed on the matter that the suspect left behind videos posted online with writings that refer to suicide, "extremely violent thoughts and ideas," an apology to her family and a handwritten sketch of the interior layout of a church. It is unclear whether that church was the one at Annunciation Catholic School.
O'Hara said Thursday on NBC's "TODAY" show that officers did not find additional firearms when they executed search warrants, but they recovered "literally hundreds of pieces of evidence" as they seek electronic search warrants for the shooter's devices.
O'Hara also said the suspect's mother had previously worked for the church.
The church celebrated Westman's mother's retirement on Facebook in August 2021. The post, which was deleted Wednesday in the wake of the shooting, did not specify what her role was.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
