Minneapolis attacker fired 116 rifle rounds into church, police chief says

The person who killed two Catholic school pupils and wounded more than a dozen children fired 116 rounds from a rifle into the Minneapolis church, the city’s police chief said on Thursday.

Robin Westman once attended the Annunciation Catholic School and had been a member of the neighbouring church, police said.

Westman was “obsessed” with the idea of killing children, authorities said.

Acting US Attorney Joe Thompson said videos and writings the attacker left behind show that they “expressed hate towards almost every group imaginable”.

The only group Westman did not hate was “mass murderers and shooters”, Mr Thompson said.

Authorities were poring over videos, writings and movements of the attacker but remained uncertain what precisely motivated 23-year-old 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 on Thursday, adding police have seen nothing “specific to trigger the amount of hate that occurred yesterday”.

“It is very clear that this shooter had the intention to terrorise those innocent children,” Mr O’Hara said.

“No evidence will ever be able to make sense of such an unthinkable tragedy.”

Investigators have recovered hundreds of pieces of evidence from the church and three residences, and are seeking warrants to search devices, the chief said.

They have found more writings from the suspect, but no additional firearms.

Westman, who was armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, died by suicide, Mr O’Hara said.

Two children, aged eight and 10, died in the shooting. City officials on Thursday increased to 15 the number of wounded children — aged six to 15 — in addition to three parishioners in their 80s who were also injured. Most were expected to survive, Mr O’Hara said.

One child is in a critical condition while 11 other victims remain in hospital.

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 attacker 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.

Just hours after the shooting, hundreds of people including Minnesota governor Tim Walz and clergy members attended a vigil, clutching one another and wiping away tears.

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.

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.

Mr O’Hara said someone inside the church barricaded some of the side doors with a wooden plank and that authorities found a smoke bomb at the scene.

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.

The police chief said the ages of the wounded children range from six to 15.

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.

He later said on X that the attack was an act of domestic terrorism motivated by hate-filled ideology, citing the gunman’s statements against multiple religions and calls for violence against President Donald Trump.

On a YouTube channel titled Robin W, police said at least two videos were posted before the channel was taken down on Wednesday.

In one, 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 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 were also hundreds of pages written in a centuries-old script still used in Slavic countries across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

In one, they wrote “When will it end?”

Westman’s uncle, former Kentucky state legislator Bob Heleringer, said he did not know the accused 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 was not 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”.

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 traumatising scene and that she thought she was going to die.

Mr Walz lamented that children just starting the school year “were met with evil and horror and death”.

He and Mr Trump ordered flags to be lowered to half-mast on state and federal buildings.

From the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, sent a telegram of condolences, and said he was praying for relatives of the dead.

Monday was the first day of the school year at Annunciation, a 102-year-old school in a leafy residential and commercial neighbourhood south of central Minneapolis.

On ABC’s Good Morning America, Mr Frey 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,” he 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.”

Published: 28/08/2025 by Radio NewsHub