Annunciation mass shooting: What we know about the shooter's motive

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Authorities revealed more about the Annunciation Catholic Church and School shooter's motives on Thursday, saying the shooter was "full of hate" and expressed hate toward many groups. 

"There is no question in this case that the shooter intended to terrorize the children, the school, school members of the school community," Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said on Thursday.

Annunciation shooter ‘wanted to watch children suffer’

What's new:

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara shared an update on Thursday on the shooter's motives, saying the shooter was filled with hate toward everyone except mass shooters.

The shooter had a "deranged fascination with previous mass shootings and very disturbing writings that demonstrate hatred towards many different individuals and different groups of people," O'Hara said, noting the shooter "fantasized about the plans of other mass shooters."

O'Hara said they know the shooter wanted to obtain notoriety for themselves and asked people to avoid naming the shooter.

Authorities continue to investigate the shooter's motive and the shooter's specific trigger for targeting the children at Annunciation. However, the shooter had attended mass at Annunciation previously and had attended the school. The shooter's mom was also an employee of the parish. O'Hara said authorities have not been able to contact the shooter's mother.

"So obviously there is a connection between that shooter and this particular parish and this school," O'Hara said. 

The shooter left behind hundreds of pages of writing describing the plan, mental state and hate, which included hate toward Black people, Mexican people, Christians, Jewish people, President Donald Trump and others, authorities said. 

"The shooter appeared to hate all of us. The shooter's heart was full of hate," U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said at Thursday's news conference, noting it appears the only group of people the shooter didn't hate were school shooters and mass murderers.

"More than anything, the shooter wanted to kill children, defenseless children. The shooter was obsessed with the idea of killing children. The shooter saw the attack as a way to target our most vulnerable among us while they were at their most vulnerable at school and at church," Thompson said. 

"The shooter wanted to watch children suffer," Thompson added.

Investigation into Annunciation shooting

Big picture view:

As part of the investigation, police say search warrants were being executed at the church and three other locations around the metro connected to the shooter, including in Minneapolis, St. Louis Park and Richfield. No additional firearms were recovered, and the guns used in the shooting were purchased legally. Police believe the shooter acted alone.

The FBI says it is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics. O'Hara says they haven't determined a motive, but the suspect did post a manifesto on YouTube, which has since been taken down. Authorities have also recovered hundreds of pages of evidence in which the shooter described hate for everyone except for mass shooters. 

"The shooter appeared to hate all of us. The shooter's heart was full of hate. There appears to be only one group that the shooter didn't hate. One group of people who the shooter admired. The group were the school shooters and mass murderers that are notorious in this country. The shooter idolized some of the most notorious school shooters and mass murderers in our country's history," U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

In an update earlier on Thursday, FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI continues to investigate the "barbaric attack," noting they have gathered evidence "demonstrating this was an act of domestic terrorism motivated by a hate-filled ideology."

Patel provided the following updates on the investigation into the shooter's motive:

• The shooter left multiple anti-Catholic, anti-religious references both in the suspect's manifesto and written on the suspect's firearms.
• The shooter expressed hatred and violence toward Jewish people, writing "Israel must fall," "Free Palestine," and using explicit language related to the Holocaust.
• The shooter wrote an explicit call for violence against President Trump on a firearm magazine.

Patel said the investigation is ongoing, and the FBI will "employ all of our counter-terror tools to ensure this is fully investigated and deterred."

The backstory:

The suspect, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, reportedly died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the parking lot of the church after the suspect fatally shot two children and injured 18 others as they prayed during the first week of school mass. 

FOX 9 has confirmed the shooter's mother previously worked at Annunciation. The suspect's mother also applied to change her child’s name from Robert to Robin in Dakota County in 2019, according to court documents obtained by FOX 9. The name change filing states that the 23-year-old identified "as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification."

As part of the investigation, police say search warrants were being executed at the church and three other locations around the metro. Additional firearms have been recovered, and the guns used in the shooting were purchased legally. Police believe the shooter acted alone.

Dig deeper:

Read more about the Annunciation mass shooting:

• What we know so far - Aug. 28 updates
• What we know about the victims
• What’s known about shooting suspect
• Victim recalls ‘super scary’ attack during mass
• Emergency audio reveals medical response, injuries
• How you can help
• What we know about the shooter's motive