Police reviewing disturbing videos in investigation of Minneapolis school shooting

The guns were purchased legally and recently, police say, as investigators examine chilling manifesto-style videos purportedly posted by the shooter.

By
Jenna Gloeb
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Screenshots from videos allegedly posted by the shooter and circulating online. (Josh Walkos/Leftists of Minnesota)

Warning: This article contains disturbing content.

Authorities are investigating a series of disturbing online videos allegedly posted by the gunman who opened fire at Annunciation Catholic School and Church in south Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring 17 others.

The shooter, identified as 23-year-old Robin M. Westman, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene.

According to court records, Westman was born Robert Paul Westman. In 2019, Westman’s mother, Mary Grace, petitioned Dakota County court to change her minor child’s name to Robin M., with a court order stating the “minor child identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.” The court approved the request in early 2020.

Disturbing online videos

Several “manifesto”-style videos are circulating online, purportedly linked to Westman.

“There was some sort of manifesto that was timed to come out on YouTube. It’s been taken down and our investigators are going through that to try and develop a motive from that,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a Wednesday press conference.

O’Hara added that the firearms used in the attack — a rifle, a shotgun and a handgun — were all acquired legally and “purchased recently.”

One video was reportedly posted Wednesday morning on a YouTube channel under the name “Robin W.” before it was removed.

In it, an individual displays a cache of firearms and ammunition while thumbing through what appears to be some sort of manifesto.

Several magazines and gun parts are covered in handwritten messages, including one that reads “Kill Donald Trump” and another marked “For the children.” U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the “deeply sick murderer scrawled the words ‘For the Children’ and ‘Where is your God?’ and ‘Kill Donald Trump’ on a rifle magazine.”

At one point in the video, the individual pans to a picture of Jesus placed on a bullet-riddled target, laughing maniacally. The clip includes audio of the person saying, “I’m sorry to my family, but not the children. F-ck the children.”

In another video, the camera lingers on a red notebook filled with scrawled writings and diagrams that appear to depict the interior of a church and a knife stabbing through the page.

The pages are turned slowly as bursts of laughter can be heard off screen.

“That’s all, that’s all I do — I fall, I break and I die,” the person says in the video.

Another video — posted under the name “Robin W” and later removed by YouTube before it was obtained by The Daily Wire — shows a person slowly thumbing through the pages of a handwritten notebook.

“I can’t deal with this anymore … I can’t do this anymore … I have to go, I have to go,” he says as the camera pans over scrawled messages.

One page reads: “Sick f—, sick f—, murderer hahahahaha villain.” The person mutters “Oh my God,” raises his middle finger toward the page, then presses the barrel of what appears to be a pistol against the paper.

The clip briefly shows his room, where packed bags are visible. “I’m all packed up … I don’t know what else to say. It’s over. It’s over. It’s all over.”

Jenna Gloeb
Website

Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.

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