Mourners sign memorial crosses at a vigil at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Minnesota, for the victims of a mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis, where two children were killed and 17 injured by a shooter on August 27, 2025.
Tom Baker / AFP
The attack is being treated as “an act of domestic terrorism” against Catholics.
A shooter opened fire on a Minneapolis Catholic school’s church during Wednesday’s Mass, firing dozens of rounds of bullets through the stained glass windows, killing two—aged eight and 10—and leaving 17 others injured.
The shooter, who scrawled such disturbing messages as “Jew gas,” “six million wasn’t enough,” “for the children” and “kill Donald Trump” on weapons used in the attack, changed names from Robert to Robin Westman by deed poll in 2020, at the age of 17.
According to the New York Post, Westman later “seemed to have backed away from that identity.” The paper quotes the shooter as saying:
I don’t want to dress girly all the time but I guess sometimes I really like it. I know I am not a woman but I definitely don’t feel like a man.
I really like my outfit. I look pretty, smart and modest. I think I want to wear something like this for my shooting.
Westman, who attended the attacked school, also showed weapons off on videos shared to YouTube that have since been removed from the platform.
FBI officials have announced that the shooting is being investigated “as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.”
Updates on the shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota:
The FBI is investigating this shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.
There were 2 fatalities, an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old. In addition, 14 children and 3 adults were injured.
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) August 27, 2025
Predictably enough, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s primary response to the attack was to criticse U.S. gun laws. But clinical social worker Darcy Sterling stressed the importance of focussing attention on the person behind the gun(s), saying:
This was not someone who popped off out of nowhere. This was a critically mentally ill person for a very long time.
Such events also almost always have some form of connection to drugs.
During a press conference, Frey also urged people not to “villainise our trans community.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau will “continue to provide updates on our ongoing investigation with the public as we are able.”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
