New details are emerging about Robin Westman, the suspected gunman in Wednesday’s mass shooting at Annunciation Church.
Court records show Westman, who identified as a woman, legally changed her name from Robert to Robin in 2020. Investigators now believe she posted disturbing videos to YouTube on the morning of the attack. The account has since been deleted, but Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed authorities think the videos were hers.
The footage showed a stockpile of firearms, ammunition, and a handwritten four-page manifesto addressed to her family and friends. The letter opened with an apology: “I don’t expect forgiveness … I do apologize for the effects my actions will have on your lives.”
In the writings, Westman described years of depression, suicidal thoughts, and resentment toward life. “I have wanted this for so long,” one section read. “I know this is wrong, but I can’t seem to stop myself. I am severely depressed and have been suicidal for years. Only recently have I lost all hope and decided to perform my final action against this world.”
The videos also displayed a target with the face of Jesus, weapons marked with anti-religious phrases, memes, and tributes to past mass shooters, including those at Sandy Hook Elementary, the Tree of Life Synagogue, and the Christchurch mosque attacks. Some weapons bore references to the Holocaust and violent calls for Israel to “fall” and “burn.”
At one point, Westman flashed a white supremacy hand sign, used racial slurs, and showed a shirt with a patch of the old Minnesota flag and the phrase, “Do it before the anxiety kicks in.” A journal written in Cyrillic characters featured a hand-drawn map of the church and images of a smoke bomb, which police say was used in the attack.
An old classmate, Sanchez, recalled going to school with Westman in St. Paul, back when she went by Robert. Sanchez remembered troubling behavior as early as seventh grade.
“When you see something erratic, it doesn’t leave your mind… so he would put up his hand and praise Hitler,” she said.
After watching the manifesto videos, Sanchez called it a “spiritual battle.” Fighting back tears, she remembered how Westman often wrote in coded language as a child. “It was just kinda triggering,” she said. “I wish I could have said something sooner, but I was little, how was I supposed to know?”
