THE shooter who killed two children at a Catholic church penned a chilling letter addressed to his parents before carrying out the sick rampage.
In the essay, Robin Westman apologized to his mother and father but said he had been corrupted.
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Westman, 23, shot dead two children, aged eight and 10, and 17 were left injured following Wednesday’s attack on the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis.
It has since emerged that the shooter’s mother Mary worked at the adjacent Catholic school as a secretary until her retirement in 2021.
Westman opened fire as children gathered to celebrate Mass.
But before the shooting, he uploaded a warped video to YouTube, where he showed off weapons and magazines that contained vile anti-Semitic slurs and sick threats.
What we know about the Minneapolis shooting…
- Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed while praying in pews
- 17 others were injured, including 14 children, and a local hospital is currently treating nine pediatric patients
- The suspect has been identified as Robin Westman, a 23-year-old man whose mother worked at the school until 2021, who died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot
- Westman uploaded a sick video manically laughing minutes before the shooting showing off disturbing messages written across multiple guns, including a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol with several magazines
- Sobbing children were evacuated from the church to reunite with their worried parents, with one boy overheard telling his dad, “I don’t feel safe”
- Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he was briefed and is “praying for our kids and teachers”
- President Donald Trump has been briefed on the situation and ordered flags at half-staff to mourn the victims
He also showed off a letter he addressed to his family and friends.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” the letter started.
“I do apologize for the effects my actions will have on your lives.”
Westman said his parents “didn’t fail him” but he apologized for “not turning out” how they had envisaged.
“I was corrupted by this world and have learned to hate what life is,” he wrote.
“Please move on and continue to give your love to my brothers and sisters, and the rest of the world.”
Westman apologized to his siblings, adding: “Your careers, lives, relationships , all will be turned upside down.”
“Change your names if you must,” the shooter said.
Westman ended the rambling essay with the line: “I love you all, I will remember you.
“Pray for the victims and their families. I love you.”
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Court documents obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune said that in 2019, Westman’s mother had applied to change her child’s name from Robert Paul Westman to Robin M. Westman.
Westman, who was a minor at that time, “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification,” the outlet reported.
Westman demonstrated an obsession with mass shooters. The name Rupnow was written on a rifle.
Natalie Rupnow shot dead two people after opening fire at the Abundant Life Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, in December 2024.
Other guns had the names of other mass killers, including Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2018.
Westman’s journal appeared to contain a drawing that showed the layout of the church.
CHURCH HORROR
Children were in the pews of the Annunciation Church when Westman opened fire just before 8:30am local time.
The shooter, who was wearing black clothing and armed with three weapons, fired through the windows.
Cops confirmed the guns were bought legally.
Westman used wooden pieces to barricade the doors of the church closed.
And, the tragedy unfolded on what was the first week of school following the summer break.
The two children, who were killed, were found in the pews.
Fourteen other children and three elderly parishioners, who were in their 80s, were injured.
Westman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His body was found in the parking lot.
Annunciation Catholic School shooting timeline
TWO children have been killed and 17 injured after a lone gunman shrouded in a black outfit opened fire inside a Minnesota Catholic school.
Here is a timeline of how the fatal tragedy unfolded.
- On Wednesday morning at 8:15 am CT, students at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis gathered for their scheduled all-school mass
- Just before 8:30, Minneapolis police responded to a call that there was a shooting
- Cops say that a lone gunman in his early 20s fired a rifle, shotgun, and pistol through the windows as children aged pre-K through eighth grade prayed inside
- Two children aged eight and 10 were killed, and 17 others, including 14 children, were injured by the gunfire
- The shooter later died after appearing to take his own life at the back of the church
- At 9:32 am, the Minneapolis Police Department confirmed that the shooter had been “contained.”
Survivors have recalled the chaos that unfolded inside the place of worship.
Fifth grader Weston Halsne told CNN that he and his pal hid under the pews as shots were fired.
Halsne’s pal shielded him, blocking him from being struck.
“The first I was like, ‘What is that?’” he told the NBC affiliate WSNS-TV.
“I thought it was just something. Then I heard again, I just ran under the pew, and then I covered my head.
“My friend Victor like saved me, though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit.”
Halsne, 10, said he felt what he thought was gunpowder on his neck.
‘IT JUST KEPT GOING AND GOING’
Mike Garrity, who lives opposite the church, said he saw three children covered in blood, per NBC News.
Construction worker Andrew Winchell, also a local, said he thought the gunshots were initially from a nail gun.
“It was this incredibly loud and repeated ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,’ then a pause, then another ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,” he said.
“It just kept going and going.”
Vincent Francoual’s daughter Chloe survived the shooting, but he told NewsNation she had been left traumatized by what unfolded.
Francoual, from France, recalled his daughter told him she wanted to return to the country.
“The first thing that she said on the way home was, ‘I want to move back to France. I don’t want to go to school,’” he said.
The shooting is being probed as domestic terrorism and a hate crime against Catholics.
Donald Trump has since ordered flags to be flown at half-staff.
The church shooting was the fourth reported in Minneapolis in around 24 hours.
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