Gunman in Minneapolis Church Shooting Identified
Law enforcement officers gather outside the Annunciation Church’s school in response to a reported mass shooting, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Police sources identified the gunman who opened fire outside a Minneapolis church on Wednesday, killing two children and wounding 17 others before turning his gun on himself.
Sources told local news outlet KSTP that 23-year-old Robin Westman has been identified as the shooter who opened fire on the stained glass windows of the church, police said at a press conference held in Minneapolis around noon on Wednesday. Brian O’Hara, the Minneapolis Police chief, called the shooter “a coward” in an emotional statement, and revealed he was armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol.
The FBI later confirmed the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime and act of domestic terrorism, noting, “The shooter has been identified as Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman.”
Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed as they sat in the pews, O’Hara said. Seventeen more were wounded, 14 of whom are children.
The gunman opened fire outside the church at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday after 8 a.m. according to local Fox affiliate KMSP.
At the time, students, ranging from kindergarten through 8th grade, were attending a school-wide mass. The school year began on Monday.
The shooter’s death, police said, was self-inflicted. In a post to X around 9:30 a.m., the city of Minneapolis said there was “no active threat to the community at this time.”
A parent who was seated at the back pew during that mass told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the shooter “just pepper-sprayed” bullets through the stained-glass windows into the building, 50 to 100 shots.”
He added: “He killed two kids. This is terrible. This is evil. I don’t know how you defend against this.”
Westman left behind a disturbing manifesto and had written hatefull messages on his large collection of weapons. “Israel must fall,” “Burn Israel,” and “6 million wasn’t enough” – a reference to the Holocaust – were written on some of the weapons and ammunition cartridges in Westman’s possession. “Kill Trump Now!” as well as “Kill Donald Trump RIP & TEAR” was also written on the weapons. “Thank God for Breivik” was written on another, a reference to neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik, who shot and killed over 70 people in Norway in 2011.
This story is breaking and has been updated.
