Minneapolis Catholic school mass shooter ranted about ‘filthy Zionist Jews’
Robin Westman, who murdered 2 children and injured numerous others during Wednesday's attack on a Catholic school, also wrote 'Israel must fall' and 'Six million wasn't enough'
The individual who carried out a mass shooting at a Catholic school on Wednesday is believed to have ranted about killing “filthy Zionist Jews” and wrote on one his assault rifles that “six million wasn’t enough”.
Robin Westman murdered two children and injured numerous others during Wednesday’s attack at Annunciation Catholic School and Church in Minneapolis. The 23-year old, who was transgender and committed suicide after the attack, is believed to have previously attended the school. The children were fired on as they were celebrating mass.
Among the other messages Westman wrote on guns and weapons included “kill Donald Trump” and “Israel must fall”, as well as “destroy HIAS” – a Jewish refugee aid charity that was one of the targets cited by Robert Bowers, the Neo-Nazi who murdered eleven people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. A smoke canister was labelled with the words “extra thicc Jew gas”.
A journal believed to have belonged to Westman, written in the Cyrillic alphabet, was videoed by the killer on a now deleted YouTube channel. Pages translated by the New York Post showed that it was filled with messages of hate, including antisemitic, anti-black and anti-Hispanic messages. These included describing Jews as “entitled, penny-sniffing k*kes”, and saying that “If I will carry out a racially motivated attack, it would be most likely against filthy Zionist jews.” Ultimately, however, Westman’s journal showed a decision that killing “children of innocent civilians” would bring “the most joy.”
The journal suggested that Westman had been suicidal, but had determined that suicide was not enough, writing: “I don’t think I could just take myself out. I would need to do something with my final act,”
“I don’t want to [do] it to spread a message. I do it to please myself. I do it because I am sick.”
The FBI confirmed that the shooting was being investigated as an anti-Catholic hate crime.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters: “This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping.”
“The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,” he said.
Jacob Frey, the Jewish Mayor of Minneapolis, posted a message believed to have been directed at politicians who oppose stronger gun control laws in America.
“All of our kids should be able to go to school or church or anywhere without the fear of gun violence”, he said.
“Don’t just say we need thoughts and prayers. These kids were literally in a church praying. Don’t just think of them just as someone else’s kids. Think of them as your own.”
After an angry response from people who claimed he was disparaging prayer, Frey clarified his remarks, saying: “Thoughts and prayers are appreciated. But they are not enough. It’s important to talk about doing the right thing, but more importantly, we have to act.”
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