US officials have released new details about the attacker responsible for killing two children in the Minneapolis school shooting.
Law enforcement identified Robin Westman, 23, from suburban Minneapolis, as responsible for the shooting. On Wednesday morning, Westman approached the side of the church at Annunciation Catholic School and opened fire at the children through the windows while they were attending mass.
Two children aged eight and 10 were killed, and 18 others injured. One child is believed to be in critical condition. Police said Westman, armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, took their own life in the back of the church following the shooting.
On Thursday, mayor of Minneapolis Jacob Frey called for a statewide and federal ban on assault weapons, saying “thoughts and prayers are not going to cut it”.
“There is no reason that someone should be able to reel off 30 shots before they even have to reload,” he said.
During a press conference in Minnesota on Thursday, officials disclosed further information about the suspected gunman. Here’s what we know so far.
Westman’s name was legally changed from Robert to Robin in 2020, according to Minnesota court records. In the application, the judge wrote: “Minor child identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara revealed that the shooter had previously attended the Annunciation Catholic School and mass at the church. “So obviously there is a connection between the attacker and this particular parish,” he said.
But he said officials had not yet uncovered any particular incident or grievance that might have prompted the attacker to target the church. Westman did not have an “extensive known criminal history” or known mental health problems, he added.
Police and first responders work at the scene of the shooting (Photo: Eva Claire Hambach/AFP/Getty)116 rifle rounds fired into the church
During the news conference on Thursday, O’Hara said the gunman fired 116 rounds into the church.
“It is very clear that this shooter had the intention to terrorise those innocent children,” he told reporters.
Police found three shotgun shells, 116 rifle rounds and one handgun round that appears to have malfunctioned at the scene.
O’Hara said the attacker “fantasised about the plans of other mass shooters” and wanted to “obtain notoriety”.
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Joe Thompson, acting US attorney for Minnesota, said that the investigation had found evidence that the “killer idolised some of the most notorious school shooters and mass murderers in our country’s history”.
“I won’t dignify the shooter’s words by repeating them,” Thompson added. “They are horrific and vile, but in short, the shooter wanted to watch children suffer.”
Thompson said the shooter “expressed hate towards many groups, including the Jewish community and towards President Trump”.
But reading Westman’s “hundreds of pages of writing”, he said, “one thing is clear, and it’s going to be hard to hear but it’s important to the question of why this happened: more than anything the shooter wanted to kill children.
“The shooter was obsessed with the idea of killing children”.
Distressed families in the wake of the shooting at the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis (Photo: Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)Suspect timed a ‘manifesto’ to publish on YouTube
Police said they had found a “manifesto” that Westman had set to publish on YouTube at the time of the attack. It has now been taken down.
Analysis of personal notebooks reveals that Westman carried out extensive planning before the shooting and had visited the church ahead of the attack. In one entry from July, Westman wrote that “things are moving swiftly into place” and they were “feeling good about Annunciation” because it is a “good combo of easy attack for me and devastating tragedy”.
Westman listed a series of options for an attack, including a Christmas concert at a church and break time at a school.
A drawing of a church layout appears in a still image from an undated video posted to social media and filmed by Robin Westman. The video has since been removed. (Photo: Robin Westman via YouTube/via Reuters)Police unable to contact suspect’s mother
Authorities said that they had not been able to reach the suspect’s mother, Mary Grace Westward, who has not yet responded to attempts to contact her.
Ms Westward previously worked at the school, according to a school newsletter from 2016.
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