Gunman at Minneapolis church held deep-seated hatred and idolized multiple mass murderers
In a shocking act of violence, a shooting took place at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. The perpetrator, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, left behind a chilling trail of evidence, including several videos and pages upon pages of writings detailing a litany of grievances.
Westman, who had a "deranged fascination" with mass killings according to Minneapolis police Chief Brian O'Hara, was armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol. He fired 116 rifle rounds through stained-glass windows while the children were celebrating Mass, wounding more than a dozen youngsters and three parishioners in their 80s.
The shooter expressed hate towards almost every group imaginable, except for mass murderers, as stated by Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson. He confessed to his long-held plans in a suicide note found, which also contained talk of being deeply depressed.
Videos found on a YouTube channel, titled "Robin W," show weapons and ammunition, with the names of past mass shooters, and a video depicting stained-glass windows being stabbed with a knife. The channel also contained hundreds of pages written in Cyrillic, containing writings such as "When will it end?"
The first officer ran into the church four minutes after the initial 911 call, and more officers rendered first aid and rescued some of the children. Annunciation's principal Matt DeBoer and other adults protected children during the shooting.
Two documents were sent by the Eagan Police Department, one from 2018 related to a mental health call and welfare check for a child, and another from 2016 involving a criminal complaint that was entirely redacted. Westman had no past arrests or anything in the background that would have prevented the legal purchase of a firearm, beyond some 2021 traffic citations.
The shooting claimed the lives of two Catholic school students: 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski. Tess Rada's 8-year-old daughter hasn't said much about the shooting, but loud noises and sirens have bothered her since the attack, and one of her daughter's friends was killed in the shooting.
In response to the tragedy, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sent state law enforcement officers to schools and churches in Minneapolis. The FBI Director Kash Patel has labeled the attack as an act of domestic terrorism motivated by hate-filled ideology.
This report also includes contributions from the Associated Press, with reporters from various locations.
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