(Image via NDTV World)

Staff Writer: Skyler Pereyra

Email: spereyra@umassd.edu

On August 27th, 2025, 23-year-old Robin M. Westman fired through the windows of the Church of the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a semi-automatic rifle, a pistol, and a shotgun. 10-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel were killed, and 21 other people were injured. 

On the scene of the shooting, Westman shot and killed themself.  

Not only did Westman’s mother work at the school’s church for 5 years until retiring back in 2021, but Westman themself attended the school in the past. 

Westman identified as a transgender female and changed their legal name to Robin back in 2020 as well as the gender marker on their license to F. 

According to CNN, while Westman was attending the school 10 years ago, they were suspended after discussing school shootings with a classmate. However, the exact details of the situation were never fully discussed with students and parents. 

Westman’s journal entries revealed plenty about their current state of mind. 

Many parts of the journal were written in Russian Cyrillic script, English, and a mix of other languages. Within the contents of the journal, Westman talks about visiting the church days before the incident, “pretending to be interested in reconnecting with the Catholic faith”.

Then they wrote, “went to church this morning… the teachers will not be expecting an attack in the very first week of school.”

One page even shows a sketch of the inside layout of the church, along with notes about testing weapons for the shooting. 

Westman scheduled YouTube videos to be uploaded during the shooting’s commencement, where they shared what the public described to be a manifesto, but CNN’s review found that the hand-written entries were “more a jumbled stream-of-consciousness window into the shooter’s troubled state of mind.” 

One entry was Westman deciding on how they wanted to dress for the shooting:

“I don’t want to dress girly all the time, but I guess sometimes I really like it. I know I am not a woman, but I definitely don’t feel like a man… I really like my outfit… I look pretty, smart, and modest. I think I want to wear something like this for my shooting.” 

In one video, Westman shares a 4-page letter to their friends and families beginning with, “I don’t express forgiveness… I do apologize for the effects my actions will have on your lives.” 

About the shooting itself, Westman confessed, “This is not a church or religious attack. That is not the message. The message is that there is no message.” 

Former 8th-grade classmates of Westman told CNN that “they didn’t remember the future shooter saying anything violent or having any disciplinary problems at that time.” However, they described them as being “different” and that they “would get mad sometimes, maybe more angry than a normal student would.” 

This incident sparked debate around the country about transgender individuals committing shootings. One of the largest reactions came from the Department of Justice, which is currently in talks about preliminary plans “to limit transgender people’s right to possess firearms.”

Republican podcaster and debater Charlie Kirk, who himself was a victim of gun violence September 10th, shared a similar sentiment at the very event at Utah Valley University that he was shot and killed at. When asked by an audience member, “How many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years”? Kirk responded, “Too many.”  

Donald Trump Jr. also stated in an interview regarding the tragic incident of Charlie Kirk on Fox News that he couldn’t “name a mass shooting in the last year or two in America that wasn’t committed by, you know, a transgender lunatic.”

However, research shows that these claims are baseless. 

Mark Bryant, the Gun Violence Archive’s founder, explained in an email to FactCheck.org that between January 1st, 2013, and September 15th, 2025, there were 5,748 mass shootings, but only 5 of the shooters have been confirmed to be transgender. 

The Rockefeller Institute of Government, whose mission is to improve evidence-based solutions, have discovered that 94.6% of mass shootings are carried out by males.

Many have tried to use Westman’s incident as an excuse to target transgender people even more. While the incident has ignited strong reactions, it is important to approach discussion with caution, focusing instead on finding constructive solutions to prevent violence and promote understanding.