MINNEAPOLIS school shooter Robin Westman had started a new job two weeks before he gunned down two children and injured 17 others at a Catholic institution, a neighbor told The U.S. Sun.
James Loveridge was speechless when he learned his 23-year-old neighbor was named as the suspect responsible for the horrific bloodbath at Annunciation Church in southern Minneapolis on Wednesday.
“I just spent time in their backyard, hanging out with them. She seemed fine,” Loveridge said, referring to his neighbors the Westmans and of the suspect, who legally changed his name from Robert Paul Westman to Robin M. Westman in 2020.
“I don’t understand any of this.”
Loveridge described his neighbors as wonderful people and recalled Robin Westman being “happy” weeks before the tragedy at Annunciation Church, which serves preschool up to eighth grade.
“No idea. She seemed happy just literally two weeks ago. Had a new, good job that she really liked. I used to take her climbing,” Loveridge told The U.S. Sun over the phone about Westman.
“And I just don’t understand how any of this happened and why.
“They’re a wonderful, kind, generous, amazing family,” Loveridge continued when asked about the shooter’s family.
“They’ve been the best neighbors I could ever imagine. And this is an absolute tragedy.”
SHATTERED INNOCENCE
Authorities with the Minneapolis Police Department rushed to Annunciation Church on Wednesday after receiving reports of shots being fired at the building just before 8:30 am.
A mass celebrating the first week of school was taking place at the church at the time Westman unleashed his wrath, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
“During the mass, a gunman approached on the outside of the side of the building, and began firing a rifle through the church windows, towards the children sitting in the pews in the mass,” said O’Hara.
“Shooting through the windows, he struck children and worshippers that were inside the building.”
Witnesses reported hearing what sounded like 30-50 gunshots over a period of several minutes.
O’Hara said Westman was armed with a rifle, shotgun, and a pistol.
“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping,” the police chief added.
What we know so far:
- Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed while praying in pews
- 17 others were injured, including 14 children, and a local hospital is currently treating nine pediatric patients
- The suspect has been identified as Robin Westman, a 23-year-old man whose mother worked at the school until 2021, who died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot
- Westman uploaded a sick video manically laughing minutes before the shooting showing off disturbing messages written across multiple guns, including a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol with several magazines
- Sobbing children were evacuated from the church to reunite with their worried parents, with one boy overheard telling his dad, “I don’t feel safe”
- Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he was briefed and is “praying for our kids and teachers”
- President Donald Trump has been briefed on the situation and ordered flags at half-staff to mourn the victims
O’Hara said that when authorities arrived at the scene, they began to provide assistance to the injured victims inside the church, and described in gut-wrenching detail how several children were hiding, shielding themselves from gunfire.
Authorities located Westman’s body in the rear of the church.
The police chief said Westman died from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Two children, aged 8 and 10, were killed, 14 additional minors as well as three adults were injured, O’Hara said.
All of the injured victims are expected to survive, authorities added.
Annunciation Catholic School shooting timeline
TWO children have been killed and 17 injured after a lone gunman shrouded in a black outfit opened fire inside a Minnesota Catholic school.
Here is a timeline of how the fatal tragedy unfolded.
- On Wednesday morning at 8:15 am CT, students at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis gathered for their scheduled all-school mass
- Just before 8:30, Minneapolis police responded to a call that there was a shooting
- Cops say that a lone gunman in his early 20s fired a rifle, shotgun, and pistol through the windows as children aged pre-K through eighth grade prayed inside
- Two children aged eight and 10 were killed, and 17 others, including 14 children, were injured by the gunfire
- The shooter later died after appearing to take his own life at the back of the church
- At 9:32 am, the Minneapolis Police Department confirmed that the shooter had been “contained.”
SHOOTER’S DARKNESS
Westman, who was dressed in all black, attempted to block the building’s doors with a “two-by-four” plank, O’Hara, the police chief, said.
The gunman uploaded a video on YouTube where he showed off multiple weapons, bullets, and disturbing writings before committing the vicious attack.
Westman could be heard giggling as he muttered to himself and showed off writing addressed to his parents, siblings, and friends.
He even wrote disturbing messages on his guns and ammunition, with one of the weapons had “Rupnow” scribbled on it, which is likely a reference to Nashville school shooter Natalie Rupnow.
Rupnow killed two and hurt six at her Christian school last December.
Westman’s handwritten letters to his family and friends included a chilling message telling the readers to “pray for the victims and their families.”
“I love you all. I will remember you,” Westman wrote, according to the video shared on his YouTube page, which has since been removed.
A sketch of a church’s layout was included in his writing, but it’s unclear if the drawing depicted was that of Annunciation Church.
A video uploaded to Westman’s YouTube page showed the shooter showing off his cache of guns and ammunition[/caption]
NIGHTMARE SCENE
A parent who was attending the church service said students were packed into pews when the killer opened fire.
“He just pepper-sprayed through the stained-glass windows into the building, 50 to 100 shots,” the unnamed parent told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
“This is terrible. This is evil. I don’t know how you defend against this.”
Endre Gunter Jr. was in the school year’s first 8:15 am Wednesday mass when he looked out the church window and saw the shooter approaching the building.
“Then he heard boom, boom, boom,” Denis Roberts, the child’s grandmother, told the outlet.
“A girl next to him got hit in the head. He saw flesh fly. Endre was shot in the stomach,” Roberts, who spoke to her grandchild after he got out of surgery, added.
Westman had a connection to the Annunciation Church through his mother, who retired from working there in 2021.
A motive for the shooting has not been established.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
Officers with the Minneapolis Police Department work the scene at Annunciation Church[/caption]
