(File Photo: Source for Photo: Crosses, flowers and other mementos were places by the sign at Annunciation Cathic Church at a memorial after Wednesday’s shooting at the school, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) — Investigators were examining the videos, writings and movements of the shooter who fired through the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis, killing two children and wounding 17 people, for connections to the church and its school to understand the motivation for the attack.
Armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, 23-year-old Robin Westman shot dozens of rounds Wednesday morning toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass at the Annunciation Catholic School, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. The shooter then died by suicide, he said.
The children who died were 8 and 10. Fourteen other kids and three octogenarian parishioners were wounded but expected to survive, the chief said.
Mourners at vigil honor those killed and wounded
Just hours after the shooting, hundreds filled a nearby school’s gym Wednesday night, clutching one another and wiping away tears during a vigil alongside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and clergy members.
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, a few miles from the shooting.
Rev. Dennis Zehren, who was inside the church with the nearly 200 children, said they were almost to the end of the responsorial psalm, which spoke about light in the darkness. That’s when he heard someone yell, “Down down, everybody down,” as gunshots started.
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 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.
Westman’s mother had worked at the church for five years, retiring in 2021, according to a church Facebook post that year. It’s not clear if Robin Westman ever attended the church or had been enrolled at the school.
O’Hara said police had not determined a motive. The chief said, however, that investigators were examining a social media post that appeared to show the shooter at the scene.
O’Hara, who said the wounded children are ages as 6 to 15, said a wooden plank was placed to barricade some of the side doors and that authorities found a smoke bomb at the scene.
On a YouTube channel titled Robin W, the alleged shooter released at least two videos before the channel was taken down Wednesday. In one, the alleged shooter shows a cache of weapons and ammunition, some with such phrases as “kill Donald Trump” and “Where is your God?” written on them.
A second video shows the alleged shooter pointing to two outside windows in what appears to be a drawing of the church, and then stabbing it with a long knife.
In one video, the alleged shooter mentioned traveling to the nation’s largest gun show in Las Vegas and meeting Texas congressional candidate and gun rights activist Brandon Herrera, who has amassed a large following on YouTube as The AK Guy.
“I meet thousands of people every year at SHOT Show in Las Vegas in meet-and-greets and such, but I don’t remember this individual at all, nor does anyone I was there with,” Herrera said in a post on X, adding he was “sickened and angry” about the violence.
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, too, 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. But some details weren’t clear, he said, because she is struggling to communicate clearly about the traumatizing scene.
“She told us today that she thought she was going to die,” he said.
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, history’s first American pope, said he was praying for relatives of the dead.
Monday had been 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.
In an appearance Thursday morning 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.”
