Transgender Shooter Targets Minneapolis Catholic School in Ideologically Chaotic Domestic Terror Attack

Executive Summary

Robin Westman, a 23-year-old transgender individual, opened fire during a Wednesday morning Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring 17 others. The shooter left behind a video manifesto filled with anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, pro-Communist, pro-Trans, and pro-Russian messages alongside praise for prior mass shooters. Authorities are treating the incident as a hate crime and an act of domestic terrorism.

Key Judgments

Key Judgment 1

The attack was ideologically motivated and deliberately targeted Catholic children at a symbolic and vulnerable moment.

Westman fired between 50 and 100 rounds into the church during a school Mass, killing two children and wounding many more. The shooter had detailed schematics of the church and referred in her writings to the site as a “devastating tragedy” opportunity, with plans to “kill as long as I can.”

Key Judgment 2

Westman’s ideology was an incoherent but calculated blend of online extremism, designed to provoke and confuse rather than represent a coherent belief system.

Her manifesto, shown in a YouTube video prior to the attack, displayed contradictory slogans: pro-Trans, pro-Communist, pro-Russian, anti-Trump, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and anti-Indian themes, with weaponry marked by slogans such as “Kill Donald Trump” and “For the Children.”

Key Judgment 3

The manifesto reveals a desire for posthumous recognition and spiritual alignment with past mass murderers, including admiration for the Sandy Hook shooter.

Westman expressed admiration for Adam Lanza and fixated on becoming a “monster” that would be feared and remembered. She referred to Sandy Hook as her “favorite” and stated she had fantasized about mass murder “for a long time.”

Key Judgment 4

The shooter’s actions show hallmarks of digital self-radicalization and spectacle-driven violence intended to maximize trauma, not just casualties.

Evidence: Westman’s YouTube channel featured a 20-minute video displaying her manifesto in both English and Russian, gun schematics, and disturbing monologues. The attack was filmed, shared online, and included dramatic visual elements such as stabbing a map of the church before committing suicide.

Analysis

The shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School on August 27, 2025, was a premeditated act of symbolic violence, deliberately timed to target children during the opening week of school and during Mass—a sacred, communal setting. Robin Westman, 23, brought a rifle, shotgun, and pistol—all purchased legally—and used them to fire into the stained-glass windows of the church, killing two children and injuring 17 others. She took her own life immediately after the assault.

What sets this shooting apart is the ideological profile that emerged from Westman’s digital trail. Her now-removed YouTube channel contained a manifesto read aloud on video, written in both English and Russian, and accompanied by diagrams of the church. Her weapons and writings were covered with slogans representing a conflicting array of radical, political, and hateful themes. These included pro-Trans identity messages alongside anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, anti-Indian, and pro-Communist expressions. The inconsistencies appear less about genuine ideology and more about attention-seeking nihilism shaped by digital subcultures.

Westman’s admiration for other mass shooters—especially Sandy Hook perpetrator Adam Lanza—reveals a deeper motive beyond ideology: the desire to join the pantheon of notorious killers. In her manifesto, she described the shooting as her “final act,” and fantasized about a politically symbolic attack. Pages included slogans like “Kill Donald Trump” and “Free Palestine,” but also openly expressed love for “seeing kids get torn apart.” The manifesto doesn’t reflect a political ideology so much as a psychotic collage of online extremism, personal resentment, and a craving for infamy.

The attack is now being investigated as both a hate crime and an act of domestic terrorism. Law enforcement is executing multiple warrants, and the FBI confirmed it is reviewing the manifesto for evidence of broader planning or ideological affiliations. The shooter’s mother previously worked at the school, and her familiarity with the layout may have played a role in choosing the site.

What emerges from this event is the portrait of a self-radicalized individual who weaponized identity, ideology, and the internet to construct a personal mythology of vengeance and notoriety. While politically incoherent, the attack was carefully staged for maximum emotional and symbolic damage—targeting children, faith, and community in one act of shocking violence.

Sources

• The New York Post – Minneapolis Catholic School Shooter ID’d as Trans Woman Robin Westman

• The Express – Active Shooter Dead After Opening Fire on Minneapolis Church as ‘20 Targeted’

• FOX 5 Atlanta – Minneapolis School Shooting Leaves 2 Children Dead, 17 Injured

• KSTP – Minneapolis Police Investigating Second Fatal Shooting

• LiveLeak Telegram Archive – Robin Westman Manifesto Video (Private Channel)