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A fifth grader has told of how his friend saved his life when a shooter opened fire on children attending mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
Weston Halsne, 10, was inside the church at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning when transgender woman Robin Westman, 23, began firing a rifle through the windows.
Two children, aged 8 and 10, were killed and 17 people were injured in the attack, 14 of whom were children. Westman died of a self-inflicted gun wound at the scene.
- Fifth grader Weston Halsne recalled how his friend Victor saved him by lying on top of him as he hid under a pew.
- Shooter Robin Westman, 23, opened fire at Annunciation Catholic School, killing two children and injuring 17 people before dying by suicide.
- Westman’s coded manifesto included hateful, antisemitic messages and revealed suicidal thoughts intertwined with violent intent.
- The FBI is investigating the attack as domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics; a motive remains officially unreleased.
Police have identified Robin Westman as the shooter
Image credits: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Weston spoke to the media after making it to safety and being reunited with his family.
“I was like two seats away from the stained-glass windows so they were like, the shots were like right next to me,” the boy said.
Weston described the moment as “really scary” and said he thought he got gunpowder on his neck.
While the children had practiced active shooter drills in the past, he said it was “way different” because they had never practiced in the church.
“The first one [shot] I was like, ‘What is that?’ I thought it was just something. Then I heard again, I just ran under the pew, and then I covered my head,” he added.
“My friend Victor like saved me, though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit.”
Weston said Victor was shot in the back after diving on top of him but is now recovering after being taken to hospital for treatment.
“I was super scared for him,” Weston said. “But I think now he’s okay.”
He said the children were evacuated to the gym, where they sheltered in place until it was safe to leave.
Weston was then reunited with his mother outside.
“I was super happy because, like, I was scared that I wasn’t gonna see her, so I didn’t know what was happening,” he said. “Really, I was just in shock.”
The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.
Police found a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol at the scene, as well as a smoke bomb.
Officials have identified Westman as the sole shooter and said Westman did not have “extensive known criminal history.”
Investigators have not released a motive yet.
Westman, who changed her name from Robert to Robin in 2020, released a coded and handwritten manifesto on a now-deleted YouTube channel.
Westman released a manifesto written in code on social media
Image credits: RICHARD TSONG-TAATARII/The Star Tribune via Getty Images
Police confirmed that her mother is Mary Grace Westman, who worked for the school as a secretary for five years until retiring in 2021, according to the New York Post.
It is understood Westman graduated from the school in 2017.
Several clips believed to be from Westman’s YouTube channel have been circulating online, and one shows a hand-drawn layout of the church.
In that footage, a knife is stabbed into the diagram.
Other clips show a manifesto written in the Cyrillic alphabet and several guns, which had been inscribed.
Image credits: X
The inscription on one read “Kill Donald Trump,” while another stated “Gas Jews,” and a third said “Israel must fall, release the files.”
The New York Post translated the manifesto and reported that Westman had spoken of murdering “filthy Zionist Jews.”
One entry reportedly read, “If I will carry out a racially motivated attack, it would be most likely against filthy Zionist jews.”
Image credits: X
Westman allegedly pondered a motive for the attacks, and in part of the journal, discussed being suicidal for years, but wanted to kill others before taking her own life.
“I can’t really put my finger on a specific purpose. It definitely won’t be for racism or white supremacy,” Westman wrote.
“I don’t want to [do] it to spread a message. I do it to please myself. I do it because I am sick,” one journal entry added.
“I don’t think I could just take myself out. I would need to do something with my final act,” Westman said.
Investigators have not yet released a motive
Image credits: X
Governor Tim Walz said there were no words that would heal the pain the community was feeling.
“Instead of that joy, that curiosity and that learning, they were met with evil, and horror, and death,” he said at a press conference.
“We often come to these and say, these unspeakable tragedies or there’s no words for this, there shouldn’t be words for this.
“There shouldn’t be words for these types of incidents because they should not happen and there’s no words that are going to ease the pain of these families today.”
Mayor Jacob Frey also delivered an emotional speech at a press conference Wednesday.
“Children are dead, there are families that have a deceased child. You cannot put into words the gravity, tragedy or absolute pain of the situation,” he said.
“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying,” he added. “It was the first week of school, they were in a church.”
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