Police say US church attacker was filled with hatred and admired mass killers

A sign stands amid flowers at a memorial at Annunciation Catholic Church after Wednesday’s school shooting (Abbie Parr/AP)

The person who killed two Catholic school students and wounded more than a dozen youngsters sitting in the pews of a Minneapolis church once attended the same school and was “obsessed” with the idea of killing children, authorities said.

The attacker, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, fired 116 rifle rounds through stained-glass windows while the children celebrated Mass during the first week of classes at the Annunciation Catholic School, said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

“It is very clear that this shooter had the intention to terrorise those innocent children,” Mr O’Hara said.

Acting US attorney Joe Thompson said videos and writings the attacker left behind show that Westman “expressed hate towards almost every group imaginable”.

The only group Westman did not hate was “mass murderers”, Mr Thompson said.

Susan Saly, right, and Meagan Pierlouissi place flowers at a memorial at Annunciation Catholic Church after Wednesday’s school shooting in Minneapolis (Abbie Parr/AP)

“In short, the shooter appeared to hate all of us.”

Investigators recovered hundreds of pieces of evidence from the church and three residences, the police chief said. They found more writings from the suspect, but no additional firearms or a clear motive for the attack on the church Westman once attended.

Westman had a “deranged fascination” with mass killings, Mr O’Hara said.

“No evidence will ever be able to make sense of such an unthinkable tragedy,” he said.

Surveillance video captured the attack and showed Westman never entered the church and could not see the children while firing through windows lined up with the pews, the police chief said.

Family members described one of the victims, eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel, as a boy who loved his family, fishing, cooking, and any sport he was allowed to play.

“We will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming,” his father, Jesse, said while tearfully reading a statement outside the church on Thursday.

Hally Marshall walks after praying at a memorial at Annunciation Catholic Church after Wednesday’s school shooting in Minneapolis (Abbie Parr/AP)

The parents of the other victim, 10-year-old Harper Moyski, said in a statement that she was a bright and joyful child.

“Our hearts are broken not only as parents, but also for Harper’s sister, who adored her big sister and is grieving an unimaginable loss,” said Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin.

“As a family, we are shattered, and words cannot capture the depth of our pain.”

They said they hope her memory helps drive leaders “to take meaningful steps to address gun violence and the mental health crisis in this country”.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office said they both died of gunshot wounds.

City officials on Thursday increased to 15 the number of injured children, who are aged six to 15. Three parishioners in their 80s were also injured. Only one person — a child — was in critical condition.

Westman, whose mother worked for the parish before retiring in 2021, left behind several videos and page upon page of writings describing a litany of grievances. One read: “I know this is wrong, but I can’t seem to stop myself.”

Mr O’Hara said Westman was armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, and died by suicide.

On a YouTube channel, videos that police say may have been posted by the attacker show weapons and ammunition, and list the names of mass shooters. What appears to be a suicide note to family contains a confession of long-held plans to carry out a shooting and talk of being deeply depressed.

Reverand Dennis Zehren, who was inside the church with the nearly 200 children, said the responsorial psalm — which spoke of light in the darkness — had almost ended when he heard someone yell, “Down down, everybody down,” and gunshots rang out.

People gather at a vigil at Lynnhurst Park after a shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis (Bruce Kluckhohn/AP)

Fifth-grader Weston Halsne said he ducked for the pews, covering his head, shielded by a friend who was on top of him. His friend was hit, he said.

“I was super scared for him, but I think now he’s OK,” the 10-year-old said.

FBI director Kash Patel said on X that the attack was an act of domestic terrorism motivated by hate-filled ideology, citing the attacker’s statements against multiple religions and calls for violence against president Donald Trump.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Thursday sent state law enforcement officers to schools and churches in Minneapolis, saying no child should go to school worried about losing a classmate or gunshots erupting during prayer.

On a YouTube channel titled Robin W, the person filming the video points to two windows in what appears to be a drawing of the church, then stabs it with a long knife.

The now-deleted videos also show weapons and ammunition, scrawled with “kill Donald Trump” and “Where is your God?” along with the names of past mass shooters.

There were also hundreds of pages written in Cyrillic, a centuries-old script still used in Slavic countries. In one, Westman wrote: “When will it end?”

Lily Kletter, who graduated from Annunciation, recalled that Westman joined her class at some point in middle school and once hid in the bathroom to avoid going to Mass.

“I remember they had a crazy distaste for school, especially Annunciation, which I always thought was pretty interesting because their mum was on the parish board,” she said.

Federal officials referred to Westman as transgender, and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey decried hatred being directed at “our transgender community”.

Westman’s gender identity was not clear. In 2020, a judge approved a petition, signed by Westman’s mother, asking for a name change from Robert to Robin, saying the petitioner “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification”.

There were no past arrests or anything in the attacker’s background that would have prevented Westman from being able to legally purchase a firearm, investigators said on Thursday.

In response to a request for any records of police contact with the attacker in the last decade, the Eagan Police Department sent two documents, both heavily redacted.

A man walks past the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis (Abbie Parr/AP)

The first from 2018 is listed as a mental health call and welfare check for a child with parents Mary Grace Westman and James Westman. The case was listed as closed and the narrative was redacted after the officer wrote she responded to the woman’s address.

A second report from 2016 involving a criminal complaint was entirely redacted.

The police chief said the first officer ran into the church four minutes after the initial 911 call and that more officers rendered first aid and rescued some of the children.

Annunciation’s principal Matt DeBoer said teachers and children alike responded heroically.

“Children were ducked down. Adults were protecting children. Older children were protecting younger children,” he said.

Vincent Francoual said his 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, survived by running downstairs and hiding in a room with a table pushed against the door. He said she is struggling to communicate clearly about the traumatising scene and that she thought she was going to die.