A gunman opened fire through the stained-glass windows of a south Minneapolis church during an all-school Mass last Wednesday, killing two children and wounding scores of worshippers in one of the nation’s most jarring school-adjacent shootings this year. Authorities first said 17 people were injured; by Monday, police had raised the tally to 21, including many elementary and middle-school students and three elderly parishioners. The suspect, a trans-female, born as Robert, but who identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, died at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Westman attended the school, and his mother was reported to have worked there previously.

The attack unfolded at about 8:27 a.m. on Aug. 27 at Annunciation Catholic Church, which sits on the campus of Annunciation Catholic School in the city’s Windom neighborhood. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the assailant approached the side of the church and fired “dozens” of rounds from outside; investigators later said Westman had also carried a shotgun and a handgun that apparently malfunctioned. Police and federal agents described improvised barricades placed over some church exits and recovered well over a hundred rifle casings from the scene.

The children killed were identified by their families as 10-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel. In the days since, stories of survival and loss have rippled through Minneapolis: doctors discovered a bullet fragment near the carotid artery of 10-year-old Weston Halsne, who survived after a friend, Victor Greenawalt, shielded him from gunfire, relatives said. Several victims remain in hospitals amid multiple ongoing surgeries; however, Victor has been able to go home. As of press time, Halsne still faces surgery.

Officials say Westman—who had attended the school years earlier—legally purchased the rifle, shotgun, and pistol used in the attack. The FBI is assisting Minneapolis police and the ATF in a joint probe that authorities say is examining the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and an anti-Catholic hate crime, based on inscriptions and rhetoric recovered from the suspect’s writings and videos.

A suspect, a manifesto and a trail of hate

In the hours around the shooting, two pre-scheduled YouTube videos—since taken down—appeared online showing pages of handwritten notes, diagrams and weapons Westman had prepared, according to police and reporters who reviewed copies of the material before their removal. O’Hara told reporters investigators were analyzing the “manifesto-style” videos as they worked to determine motive.

Among the evidence, investigators and reporters documented magazines and firearms scrawled with slurs and violent slogans—including, in block lettering, “Kill Donald Trump”—alongside the names of notorious mass murderers. The messages were visible in the videos and in still images reviewed by national outlets.

Westman had publicly identified as a transgender woman in recent years, court papers show, including changing his name officially. In the diary-style notes displayed in the pre-scheduled videos, Westman also wrote that he was tired of being trans. “I only keep [the long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself,” according to reporting by the New York Post and other outlets that viewed the postings prior to their removal. Authorities have not identified a single, coherent ideological motive and caution that the writings veer from anti-Catholic and antisemitic screeds to nihilistic self-loathing, according to the New York Post and the Catholic News Agency.

Other statements from the manifesto included, “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,” reflecting deep confusion.
He then wrote, “I regret being trans… I wish I was a girl, I just know I cannot achieve that body with the technology we have today. I also can’t afford that.” 

Inside the sanctuary

Witness accounts and initial police timelines indicate the gunfire lasted only minutes but caused devastation within the sanctuary, where nearly 200 students, teachers and parishioners had gathered for the first Mass of the school year. Officers and medics poured into the campus within minutes, triaging children in pews and hallways and shepherding classes to reunification sites set up by the city. “Absolutely incomprehensible,” O’Hara said at an early briefing as he urged the public to avoid politicized speculation.

A search-warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County later outlined how much worse the carnage could have been, stating Westman brought more ammunition than was fired. Authorities counted roughly 116 rifle casings and documented lumber used to block at least two exits from the outside.

Community grief, and the politics that followed

By nightfall Wednesday, the city’s grief was visible at prayer services and vigils across the Twin Cities. Mayor Jacob Frey called for action “beyond thoughts and prayers,” while faith leaders led a packed liturgy at a nearby Catholic high school. Flags were ordered to half-staff nationwide.

The attack immediately stirred national political debate. Within hours, reaction rolled in from the White House, Minnesota’s congressional delegation and state leaders. Some urged new gun restrictions; others cautioned against stigmatizing transgender people or turning the tragedy into a proxy war over identity politics.

One thread quickly corrected in the information storm: early social-media claims that the shooter was a MAGA supporter. Celebrities, like Rosie O’Donnell, who amplified that assertion publicly walked it back after reporters documented anti-Trump messages among the suspect’s belongings.

What we know about the victims

Hospital officials said all of the wounded were expected to survive, though several required operations for critical injuries. The group includes students as young as 6 and parishioners in their 80s, according to city and hospital updates. Families have launched fundraisers to cover medical care and trauma counseling.

As of Sept. 1, Minneapolis police placed the total injured at 21. Earlier briefings—on Aug. 27 and Aug. 28—cited 17 to 18. The revision reflects updated hospital tallies, officials said.

The investigation

Investigators executed multiple search warrants in the Twin Cities and are reconstructing Westman’s movements, purchases and online activity. Officials have confirmed the guns were bought legally and say preliminary evidence indicates the suspect acted alone. Authorities also say Westman’s fascination with past mass shooters and fixation on harming children figured prominently in the writings under review, according to Reuters and Fox News,

Though the writings include self-described gender-identity turmoil, federal and local officials caution against drawing broad conclusions. “We do not have a single motive at this time,” O’Hara said, noting the materials include bigotry toward several groups and “disturbing” references to prior massacres.

A city looking for answers

In classrooms and living rooms across Minneapolis, the questions feel both urgent and familiar: How did a former student amass weapons and plan an attack on a house of worship? Is there anything lawmakers can do to prevent the next one? And how can a school community help hundreds of children walk back into a sanctuary that became a crime scene?

Those answers may take months. For now, families are planning funerals and long recoveries, and a parish school is trying to resume the year it barely began.