Minneapolis shooting: Police probe suspect Robin Westman’s video ‘Manifesto’ detailing attack plans

Attack at Annunciation Catholic School

Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara identified the assailant as Robin Westman, 23, who opened fire through the stained-glass windows of Annunciation Catholic School’s church at around 8:30 a.m., as pupils gathered for Mass to mark the start of the academic year.

Two children, aged eight and ten, were killed while seated in the pews. Fourteen other children and three parishioners in their 80s were injured.

Videos timed with shooting

Before carrying out the attack, Westman allegedly uploaded several clips to YouTube. Chief O’Hara said investigators were “scouring through a video ‘manifesto’ … to try and develop a motive.”

The videos, later removed from the platform, showed weapons carved with racial slurs, antisemitic phrases, and a written death threat against US President Donald Trump.

Disturbing content in the “Manifesto”

In one clip, Westman expressed admiration for six mass shooters, including Adam Lanza, who murdered 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Another video displayed phrases like “psycho killer” and “suck on this!”, alongside antisemitic messages such as “6 million wasn’t enough.”

Westman also spoke of suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts but did not present a clear motive.

Church sketch and journal entries

A particularly chilling 20-minute video showed Westman flipping through a journal filled with text written in English using Cyrillic script. One page bore the heading “Annunciation from memory” and included a detailed sketch of the church interior.

Other notes revealed plans to “catch a big assembly on the first day of school”.

On another page, large letters read “I’m so sorry,” while the person filming whispered: “I love my family.”