WASHINGTON, Aug 28
Robin Westman, suspected of carrying out the deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday, had released a series of videos showing his guns and ammunition just hours before the attack.
His ammunition and gun magazines had texts like ‘Nuke India’, ‘Kill Donald Trump’ and ‘Israel must fall’ written on them, as per a viral video.
In the viral videos, Westman is seen displaying a gun magazine with phrases such as ‘for the children,’ ‘kill Donald Trump,’ ‘Where is your God?’ and ‘Nuke India.’
According to the New York Post, the purported videos were released just hours before the attack and featured the shooter’s gun magazines along with a manifesto.
In another video, Westman’s gun magazine can be seen with the names of Adam Lanza and other mass shooters.
One of the clips shows Westman’s gun magazine marked with the names of Adam Lanza and other notorious mass shooters. Lanza was responsible for the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut, where 26 people — including 20 children — were killed.
The New York Post noted that Westman’s writings also revealed a disturbing reverence for such attackers; in his journal, he described being ‘deeply fascinated’ by Lanza in particular.
The videos also show several entries with antisemitic messages, including “If I carry out a racially motivated attack, it would be most likely against filthy Zionist jews,” and calling Jewish people “entitled”.
The attack unfolded during a school Mass, leaving two children dead and 17 others injured. Westman, who was carrying a rifle, a shotgun, and a handgun, died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The videos Westman uploaded were taken down at the request of the police, but copies were available on social media, and IANS discovered the anti-India writing while scanning the video.
The video’s authenticity was confirmed by Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, who referred in an X post to some of the writings found on the weapons seen in the video.
“This deeply sick murderer scrawled the words ‘For the Children’ and ‘Where is your God?’ and ‘Kill Donald Trump’ on a rifle magazine,” Noem posted.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel said on X that his agency was investigating the shooting as domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.
This is the second incident of a transgender person attacking a Christian institution in two years.
Two children, eight and ten, were killed, and 17 people were injured in the attack on the church as the pupils of the church’s school were at a mass to mark the opening of the academic year.
Three of those killed were people in their 80s who had come for the mass, police said.
The shooter, identified by police as Robin Westman, shot herself after firing into the church through a stained-glass window.
The killer had completed eighth grade at the school as a boy named Robert Westman in 2017, according to a school publication, before declaring himself to be a transgender girl and legally changing his name in 2020.
