Prominent MAGA personalities are responding to court records that show that the Annunciation Catholic School shooting suspect applied for a name change due to her gender identity.
Robin Westman, 23, was granted a name change in 2020, when she was a minor, according to Dakota County District Court records reviewed by Newsweek. The order states that the name change is in the best interest of the child because “minor child identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
Westman is the suspect in the shooting at the Minneapolis school that left two children dead and at least 17 people injured. Police said the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey addressed the comments directed at the transgender community during a press conference.
“Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity,” Frey said. “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 Context
Following the shooting, several conservative personalities are arguing that transgender individuals should not have access to firearms.
“If you are crazy enough to want to hormonally and surgically ‘change your sex,’ you have a mental disorder, and you are too crazy to own a firearm,” Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA, said on X.
Tomi Lahren, a conservative political commentator, said, “To all those on the left and the right who support red flag laws, would you concede that transgender dysphoria is a red flag?”
GLAAD has previously stated that “social media accounts with a history of anti-transgender rhetoric frequently and falsely accuse transgender people of crimes, particularly during mass shooting events, before facts are known.” The organization said there is no evidence of escalating violence from LGBTQ individuals.
What To Know
The mass shooting began at around 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday. The school was holding Mass at the time, which is also open to the public. It was the third day of the school year.
Annunciation Catholic School has 370 students from kindergarten to eighth grade.
Westman lived in Richfield, Minnesota. She graduated from Annunciation in 2017, according to local news station WCCO. Her mother worked in some capacity at the school, news station KARE reported, citing law enforcement sources.
What People Are Saying
Collin Rugg, co-owner of conservative outlet Trending Politics, on X: “There has been a coordinated effort by people in power to confuse and destroy our youth. And this is what we end up with.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, at a press conference: “Kids died today. This needs to be about them. This needs to be wrapping our arms around these families with every bit of love that we can possibly show.”
What Happens Next
Multiple law enforcement agencies will continue to investigate the shooting.
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