The Minneapolis shooter who fired through the windows of a school prayer session killing two children, may have tricked his way into the church weeks before his attack to carry out reconnaissance.
Investigators think that Robin Westman, a former pupil at Annunciation Catholic school, visited the church by lying to staff that they wanted to ‘reconnect’ with his faith.
It is believed from that short visit, Westman created a detailed, hand-drawn blueprint of the layout of the pews and emergency exits so they could determine where the best place was to open fire and cause maximum tragedy.
Two children, a boy and a girl, were shot in the head and died at the scene of the indiscriminate shooting during the ‘All-Schools Mass on Wednesday morning.
But police fear it could’ve been far worse if Westman had got inside the church packed with hundreds of children aged 5-14, armed with his rifles and pistol.
Fortunately, the front doors were locked when the service started as a matter of protocol forcing Westman to ‘improvise’ and shoot ‘blindly’ through the windows, security sources told CNN.
Westman released a video of two blocks of wood they intended to place through the door handles of the emergency exits so students would be trapped inside.
‘Check this out,’ Westman can be heard saying. ‘This will be for the emergency exit.’
If Westman had been able to enter the church, victims who fled to the emergency exits would have found them blocked and filled with orange smoke from grenades, making the hundreds inside sitting ducks for his semi-automatic rifle.
Reverend Dennis Zehren, who was inside the church with the nearly 200 children, said they were almost to the end of the responsorial psalm, which spoke about light in the darkness. That’s when he heard someone yell, ‘Down down, everybody down,’ as gunshots started.
(Pictures: LiveNOW From Fox)
Fifth-grader Weston Halsne said he ducked for the pews, covering his head, shielded by a friend who was on top of him. His friend was hit, he said.
Vincent Francoual said his 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, survived by running downstairs and hiding in a room with a table pushed against the door. But some details weren’t clear, he said, because she is struggling to communicate clearly about the traumatizing scene.
‘She told us today that she thought she was going to die,’ he said.
On a YouTube channel titled Robin W, a timed post from the alleged shooter shows a cache of weapons and ammunition, some with such phrases as ‘kill Donald Trump’ and ‘Where is your God?’ written on them.
FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the shooting is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.
Westman’s mother had worked at the church for five years, retiring in 2021, according to a church Facebook post that year.
O’Hara said police had not determined a motive. The chief said, however, that investigators were examining a social media post that appeared to show the shooter at the scene.
Federal officials referred to Westman as transgender, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey decried hatred being directed at ‘our transgender community.’ Westman’s gender identity wasn’t clear.
During the video released for the time of the shooting, the person filming sings the word ‘tomorrow’ and says, ‘I’m sorry to my family… that’s the only people I’m sorry to.’ Also, ‘I regret everything. I didn’t ask for life. You didn’t ask for death.’
At one point, the person holds up a smaller firearm from the cache and says, ‘This one is for me. In case I need it.’
