Minneapolis school shooter identified as a trans woman

Information reported by ABC News and other media outlets indicates that the person who opened fire on children at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday morning, Aug. 27, was a transgender woman.

The person, identified as Robin Westman, 23, allegedly began shooting through the windows of a church at Annunciation Catholic School, aiming at the children sitting in pews, attending a back-to-school mass.

Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed in the shooting, and 17 others — three adults and four children ages 6 to 15 — were injured, authorities have said.

Westman reportedly died of a self-inflicted gun shot at the scene.

Trump administration FBI Director Kash Patel said Westman was “a male” born under a different first name — Robert — according to NBC News reports. NBC also said that Westman’s parent had “filed for a legal name change to Robin M Westman in Dakota County in November 2019,” and that the name change application was granted after a hearing in January 2020, when the suspect was 17.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey “warned against any hate being directed toward the trans community,” according to NBC, with the mayor saying at a press conference that anyone “using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity.”

“We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone,” Frey added. “We should be operating from a place of love for our kids.”

Law enforcement officials have said they believe Westman acted alone in the shooting, and officers recovered a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol at the scene, all of which were recently legally purchased by Westman. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said search warrants were being executed at the church and at three nearby residences related the suspect, and that “additional firearms [were] recovered from those residences.”

Westman reportedly had videoed a “manifesto” that was timed to be released on YouTube. “This manifesto appeared to show him (sic) at the scene and included some disturbing writings,” O’Hara said. “That content has since been taken down with the assistance of the FBI, and it now remains under active review by our investigators.”

Various media outlets have reported that, based on the video, Westman had written on the various weapons and magazines shown in the video. According to an NBC review of the footage, those writings included racial slurs, a call for Donald Trump’s death, antisemitic messages and references to the Holocaust and the Catholic Church.

The Texas Tribune has reported that Westman’s video “appears to show a written manifesto and says the message is ‘sponsored’ by ‘Brandon Herrera for president.’”

Herrera, who Westman apparently claimed to have met at the SHOT Show annual gun trade show in Las Vegas last year, is a Texas Republican who is challenging 23rd Congressional District incumbent, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, in the 2026 GOP Primary.

Herrera said in a post on X that he does not remember having met Westman, that he would be happy to answer any questions law enforcement might have for him , and he is “physically sickened and angry about this clearly hate motivated attack on innocent children, and disgusted that my name came out of this demon’s mouth.”

Herrera is “strong defender of the Second Amendment,” according to his campaign website, who will “fight for national concealed carry reciprocity and block any attempt to pass Red Flag laws or impose new firearms restrictions. He will also work to increase funding for firearm training for school staff, ensuring our children are better protected.”

The video also reportedly shows Westman flipping pages in a journal, with entries written using Russian Cyrillic alphabet, while describing her “fascination with violence and obsession with mass shootings, particularly those who attacked schools,” according to NBC News, as well as discussing “suicide, depression, her own racism, and the particulars of carrying out a mass shooting.”

— Tammye Nash