RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) — The shooter who killed two Catholic school students and wounded more than a dozen children sitting in the pews of a Minneapolis church once attended the school and had been a member of the church, the city’s police chief said.
Authorities were pouring over videos, writings and movements of the shooter but remained uncertain what motivated 23-year-old Robin Westman to open fire through stained-glass windows as children celebrated Mass on the first week of classes at the Annunciation Catholic School.
“Everything we’ve seen so far is a classic pathway to an active shooter,” Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said on NBC’s “TODAY” show Thursday, adding police have seen nothing “specific to trigger the amount of hate that occurred yesterday.”
Investigators have recovered hundreds of pieces of evidence from the church and three residences, and are seeking warrants to search devices, the chief said. They have found more writings from the suspect, but no additional firearms.
Westman, who was armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, died by suicide, he said.
Two children, ages 8 and 10, died in the shooting while 14 other kids and three parishioners in their 80s were wounded and most were expected to survive, O’Hara said. One child was in critical condition Thursday while 11 other victims remained in hospitals.
Westman, whose mother worked for the parish before retiring in 2021, left behind videos and page upon page of writings describing a litany of grievances. In one he said: “I know this is wrong, but I can’t seem to stop myself.”
On a YouTube channel, videos that police say may have been posted by the shooter show weapons and ammunition, and list the names of mass shooters. What appears to be a suicide note to family contains a confession of long-held plans to carry out a shooting and talk of being deeply depressed.
Mourners at a vigil honor those killed and wounded
Just hours after the shooting, hundreds of people including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and clergy members, attended a vigil, clutching one another and wiping away tears.
Speaking to a silent crowd crammed shoulder-to-shoulder — with hundreds more outside — Archbishop Bernard Hebda described the students trying to shield their classmates as the gunfire erupted.
“In the midst of that, there was courage, there was bravery, but most especially there was love,” he said at the Academy of Holy Angels.
Rev. Dennis Zehren, who was inside the church with the nearly 200 children, said the responsorial psalm — which spoke of light in the darkness — had almost ended when he heard someone yell, “Down down, everybody down,” and gunshots rang out.
O’Hara said someone inside the church barricaded some of the side doors with a wooden plank and that authorities found a smoke bomb at the scene.
Fifth-grader Weston Halsne said he ducked for the pews, covering his head, shielded by a friend who was on top of him. His friend was hit, he said.
“I was super scared for him, but I think now he’s OK,” the 10-year-old said.
The police chief said the wounded children range from 6 to 15 years.
Authorities investigate a motive for the shooting
FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the shooting is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.
On a YouTube channel titled Robin W, police said at least two videos were posted before the channel was taken down Wednesday. In one, the person filming the video points to two windows in what appears to be a drawing of the church, then stabs it with a long knife.
The videos also show weapons and ammunition, scrawled with “kill Donald Trump” and “Where is your God?” along with the names of past mass shooters.
There also were hundreds of pages written in a centuries-old script still used in Slavic countries across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In one, they wrote “When will it end?”
Westman’s uncle, former Kentucky state lawmaker Bob Heleringer, said he did not know the accused shooter well and was confounded by the “unspeakable tragedy.”
The police chief said Westman did not have an extensive known criminal history and is believed to have acted alone.
Federal officials referred to Westman as transgender, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey decried hatred being directed at “our transgender community.” Westman’s gender identity wasn’t clear. In 2020, a judge approved a petition, signed by Westman’s mother, asking for a name change from Robert to Robin, saying the petitioner “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
Police chief says officers rescued children who hid
The police chief said officers immediately responded to reports of the shooting, entered the church, rendered first aid and rescued some of the children.
Annunciation’s principal Matt DeBoer said teachers and children alike responded heroically.
“Children were ducked down. Adults were protecting children. Older children were protecting younger children,” he said.
Vincent Francoual said his 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, survived by running downstairs and hiding in a room with a table pushed against the door. He said she is struggling to communicate clearly about the traumatizing scene and that she thought she was going to die.
Walz lamented that children just starting the school year “were met with evil and horror and death.” He and President Donald Trump ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff on state and federal buildings.
From the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV sent a telegram of condolences. The Chicago-born Leo, the first American pope, said he was praying for relatives of the dead.
Monday was the first day of the school year at Annunciation, a 102-year-old school in a leafy residential and commercial neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis.
On ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Frey, the mayor, said the city is united in grief and will be united in action.
“People who say that this is not about guns. You got to be kidding me. This is about guns. We do need to take action,” Frey said. “There are other countries around the world where horrific acts have taken place like this and then they step up to make a change so that it, in fact, does not happen again.”
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Karnowski and Vancleave reported from Minneapolis and Golden from Seattle. Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York; Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; Will Weissert and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Bruce Schreiner in Shelbyville, Kentucky; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; Nicole Winfield in Vatican City; and Steve Peoples in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
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