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 same school and had been a member of the church, the city's police chief said.
Authorities were pouring over videos, writings and the 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 recovered hundreds of pieces of evidence from the church and three residences, and are seeking warrants to search devices, the chief said. They 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. City officials on Thursday increased to 15 the number of wounded children — ages 6 to 15 — in addition to three parishioners in their 80s who were also injured. 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.
Student shielded by a friend who was shot
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.
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.
Authorities investigate a motive for the shooting
The shooting is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics, said FBI Director Kash Patel.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday sent state law enforcement officers to schools and churches in Minneapolis, saying no child should go to school worried about losing a classmate or gunshots erupting during prayer.
On a YouTube channel titled Robin W, 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 now-deleted 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 Cyrillic, a centuries-old script still used in Slavic countries. In one, Westman wrote, “When will it end?”
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.” 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.
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,” 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.
Giovanna Dell'orto, Steve Karnowski, Mark Vancleave And Hallie Golden, The Associated Press
