Minneapolis Mass Shooting Suspect Robin Westman Exhibited Troubling Behavior from Childhood, Says Former Friend
Minneapolis, MN â Questions continue to swirl around the background of Robin Westman, the 27-year-old shooter who stormed Annunciation Catholic Church and School on Wednesday, killing two children and injuring 17 others before taking his own life. Now, chilling details have emerged from Westmanâs past, with former classmates recalling disturbing behaviors and early signs of antisemitism that may have foreshadowed the tragedy.
Eyewitness Accounts from Former Classmates
According to Josefina Sanchez, a classmate who knew Westman during seventh grade in St. Paul, his behavior was alarming even as a child. She described him as someone who would walk around repeating phrases such as âpraise Hitler,â shocking peers who did not know how to respond.
âIt was something none of us could make sense of at that age,â Sanchez shared. âHe would put his hand up, salute, and say things that no middle schooler should even be thinking about. Looking back as an adult, I can see just how unsettling it was.â
Sanchez expressed remorse for not raising the issue with adults at the time, lamenting that children often lack the context or authority to recognize and confront dangerous red flags. âItâs demonic, Iâm sorry, it is. But in seventh grade, how was I supposed to know what to do? When you see something that disturbing, it stays in your mind forever,â she said.
The Shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School
Authorities say Westman entered the Annunciation Catholic Church and Schoolâa place he briefly attended as a boyâarmed with a rifle, shotgun, and handgun. The shooting began during afternoon dismissal, leaving terrified children and parents scrambling for safety.
By the time police arrived, chaos had overtaken the campus. Officers later confirmed that two young students were fatally struck, while 17 others, including teachers and staff members, were hospitalized with varying injuries. Westman ultimately turned one of his weapons on himself, dying before officers reached him.
The emotional toll of the attack has left Minneapolis reeling, particularly given Westmanâs personal history with the institution. His mother, a long-serving secretary at the school before retiring in 2021, was well-known among faculty and parishioners.
Patterns of Violent Ideation
Investigations have since uncovered disturbing writings by Westman, including notebooks and digital files filled with codes, cryptic symbols, and rants mixing English and Cyrillic characters. These writings show consistent themes of antisemitism, racism, and glorification of past mass shootings.
In one particularly troubling entry retrieved by police, Westman wrote about carrying out a racially motivated attack, specifically identifying Jewish people as targets. Notes laced with references to âfilthy Zionist Jewsâ and âentitlementâ echo similar extremist language found in manifestos of previous attackers both in the United States and abroad.
Westman also cited political figures and global conflicts, including references to âFree Palestine,â blending fringe political rhetoric with violent fantasies. Authorities estimate that more than 200 pages of handwritten notes and online posts will be reviewed as part of the ongoing investigation.
Psychological and Social Profile
Although Westman was not previously known to law enforcement, classmates and acquaintances described him as socially isolated and often fixated on dark, conspiratorial ideas. Alongside his antisemitic ramblings, he demonstrated patterns of obsessive behavior, such as encoding messages and developing invented ciphers.
Experts on extremist psychology note that these tendencies are not uncommon among domestic attackers who retreat into online echo chambers. Digital platforms, some of which Westman used to post his videos, often accelerate radicalization by exposing vulnerable individuals to violent ideologies.
What sets Westman apart, however, is the length of time these warning signs were evident. Friends recall unusual behavior stretching back more than a decade, long before the shooting. This raises painful questions about whether any interventionsâschool-based, familial, or medicalâcould have altered the trajectory that culminated in mass violence.
Historical Context: Minnesota and Mass Shootings
Minnesota has experienced its share of mass violence over the past two decades, though it is not among the states with the highest frequency of mass shootings. One of the most infamous incidents prior to this tragedy took place in 2005 at Red Lake High School, where a 16-year-old killed nine people before taking his own life. The attack shocked the state and prompted years of discussion about security in schools across Minnesota.
Nationally, school shootings have escalated in both frequency and deadliness since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Figures compiled by gun violence research institutions show a troubling rise in incidents involving semi-automatic weapons and young perpetrators who were previously overlooked by traditional law enforcement metrics.
Westmanâs attack in Minneapolis will now be added to this growing and grim list, ranking among the deadliest incidents in Minnesota history to occur within a school setting.
Impact on the Minneapolis Community
For Annunciation Catholic Church and School, the shooting leaves deep emotional scars that extend beyond the immediate victims. Parents gathered outside the school following the tragedy, many weeping, others clinging to their children in relief and grief. Vigils have since been held across Minneapolis, with hundreds lighting candles and offering prayers for the young lives lost.
Religious leaders have called for unity, expressing both sorrow and a resolve to ensure greater protections within places of worship and education. âThis was not only an attack on our children, but on our collective sense of safety and sanctuary,â one priest said during a memorial service.
Local businesses, schools, and community centers have also responded by reevaluating their security protocols. Minneapolis police pledged increased presence around schools across the city, while mental health services have been mobilized to support survivors, including traumatized young students.
Regional Comparisons and Broader Concerns
Compared with other Midwestern cities, Minneapolis has historically experienced lower rates of large-scale gun violence than regions like Chicago, Detroit, or Indianapolis. However, this attack underscores that no community is immune.
Elsewhere in the Midwest, recent shootings in Michigan and Wisconsin revealed similar patterns: isolated young men with a history of extremist rhetoric, often radicalized online, carrying out mass violence against soft targets like schools, churches, or stores.
Security experts say Minneapolis now faces the same question posed in cities across the country: how to balance open, community-centered institutions such as schools and churches with the need to anticipate and prevent such attacks.
Economic and Social Fallout
Beyond the unfathomable human cost, the shooting carries economic consequences for the neighborhood and broader Minneapolis area. Annunciation Catholic School has suspended classes indefinitely. Parents, already shaken, are reconsidering enrollment in faith-based institutions that lack the same level of security infrastructure as larger public school systems.
The church itself will likely face expensive repairs to its campus, which sustained damage during the incident. Long-lasting financial stress is expected to ripple through the parish community, impacting both donations and attendance.
More broadly, community confidence in local safety has been shaken, which can affect housing stability, property values, and business activity in neighborhoods associated with mass shootings. Economists studying prior casesâsuch as the Aurora, Colorado theater shooting in 2012âhave noted a dip in nearby property demand and a psychological stigma that takes years to resolve.
Investigative Next Steps
Police continue to analyze Westmanâs digital footprint, including social media accounts, encrypted chats, and video uploads. Federal agencies have joined the investigation, aiming to determine whether Westman acted alone or if he had contact with extremist networks.
Thus far, authorities have found no evidence of direct organizational ties. Instead, patterns suggest a self-radicalized individual whose writings and online behavior mirrored those of known extremist attackers without explicit coordination.
Nevertheless, law enforcement officials are seeking to understand whether any opportunities to intervene were missed, particularly during Westmanâs adolescent years when signs of dangerous ideation first appeared.
A City in Mourning
Minneapolis now faces a long recovery, not just in healing the physical wounds of survivors but also addressing the deeper trauma inflicted on children who witnessed the attack firsthand. Psychologists warn that the long-term impact of such experiences can include heightened anxiety, difficulty returning to school, and lingering distrust of public spaces.
At Thursdayâs vigil, grieving parents held candles while choirs sang hymns, their voices trembling but steadfast. Survivors embraced one another as faith leaders urged resilience. âThe pain will not disappear,â one speaker said. âBut together, we must ensure that this darkness does not define our future.â
The tragedy at Annunciation Catholic Church and School adds to a distressing national tally of school shootings. With disturbing revelations about Robin Westmanâs early signs of extremist behavior now surfacing, painful questions remain: how many warning signs must be missed before intervention occurs, and what measures can communities take to ensure that schools and places of worship remain sanctuaries rather than sites of horror?
For Minneapolis, and for the nation, the answers remain urgentâand elusive.