What We Actually Know About the Minnesota Shooter
While far-right narratives about the Minneapolis shooter’s trans identity have dominated the news cycle, many believe that it is just a distraction from gun control and the dangers of extremism.
Featured Image: Scott Olson via Getty Images
As with every unfortunate but all too common school shooting in this country, the race has begun for a motive to be sorted out and used as political fodder. In recent days following the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, which claimed the lives of two children and injured at least 17 others, mixed messages have been spread about the assailant’s ideology.
Officials have identified the shooter as 23-year-old Robin Westman. Westman had no prior criminal record, worked alone, and purchased the weapons used in the shooting—a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol—legally. Authorities shared that Westman timed the publication of YouTube videos alongside the attacks, and while the videos showing notebooks, weapons, and commentary from Westman have now been deleted, they are still circulating on social media.
In 2020, court documents show that Westman legally changed their name from Robert to Robin through an application filed by Westman’s mother. The documents show that the then-teenaged Westman “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
Far-right media have predictably grabbed hold of the shooter’s gender identity as a form of proof for their talking points that transness is a mental illness. In one of the videos posted under Westman’s name, weapons with messages written on them in white ink are shown. Among the messages reported on by the right-wing were “Kill Donald Trump,” “for the children,” “6 million wasn’t enough,” and “Where is your God?”
Conservatives have used these specific messages and the shooter’s gender identity to claim that it was “radical leftism” behind the shooting. By focusing on Westman’s gender identity, many have commented that conservatives are distracting from the need for gun legislation.
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on MSNBC, “We have seen this play out over and over again. There is a shooting, then come the thoughts and prayers, and then comes the attempt to shift the focus. This is what always happens. You’re gonna start seeing narratives. They’re already out there about how the shooter was trans.” Psaki continues by saying that there are trans people, anti-semitic people, and racist people all throughout the world, and yet the United States is the only country where these shootings happen regularly. “Weaponizing the shooter’s identity is meant to distract from what matters.”
Among the messages not covered on far-right social media posts are racist slurs, anti-semitism, and anti-LGBTQ+ slurs. The weapons also paid homage to previous mass shooters. Despite the far-right’s focus on leftism and transgender identity being the cause of the shooting, there seems to be no easily identifiable ideology for Westman, as she seemed to harbor hatred for every possible group of people.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has been outspoken in his call for gun control instead of empty messages of sympathy. “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying,” he said in a press conference. In the days following the shooting, he has called for a statewide and federal ban on assault weapons.
The mayor later took to social media to combat the anti-trans rhetoric surrounding the tragedy, writing, “Those using this tragedy as an opportunity to villainize the trans community, or any community, have lost sight of our shared humanity. Children died today. We shouldn’t be operating out of a place of hate for anyone. We should be operating from a place of love for our kids.”
