Minnesota shooter: Robin Westman named as suspect 2 children killed and 17 injured during Mass at Catholic school
The shooter who killed two children and injured 17 during Mass at a Catholic school in Minnesota has been identified.
Law enforcement sources told the Associated Press that Robin Westman attacked the church, adjacent to Annunciation Catholic School, as school children were celebrating Mass at the start of the academic year. Westman once attended the school.
Authorities have confirmed that two children were killed and 17 others were injured, 14 of them children, two of whom are in critical condition. Westman was initially described by authorities as “a man” in his early twenties, dressed all in black and armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol.
However, court documents later revealed that in 2019, the shooter changed their name from Robert to Robin and that they identified as a woman. No motive is known at this time, and Westman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
President Donald Trump has offered condolences to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. A distraught Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rejected offers of “thoughts and prayers,” saying at a press conference: “You cannot put into words the gravity, tragedy or absolute pain of the situation.”
Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that the motive for the deliberate act of violence against innocent children is not yet known. The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime against Catholics.
Pope Leo XIV has shared his condolences for those affected by the Minneapolis shooting on Wednesday. In a telegram sent to Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Minneapolis, the Pope expressed his “his heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected by this terrible tragedy, especially the families now grieving the loss of a child”, according to the Vatican News.
There have been 44 school shootings in the US so far in 2025, one more than the 43 at this point in 2024, according to CNN’s analysis of Gun Violence Archive, Education Week, and Everytown for Gun Safety data. The post-pandemic years have marked an alarming surge, with 2021 through 2024 each breaking records since the outlet began tracking incidents in 2008.