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Robin Westman: Key details on Minneapolis school shooter's mother out; suspect 'identified as female'
Court records show Minneapolis church shooter Robin Westman, born Robert Paul Westman, legally changed name in 2019 after identifying as female.
As more information on the shooter at the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis on Wednesday emerge, the identity - and in particular, the gender identity - of the suspect, Robin Westman, has come under the scanner.
According to an entry by reporter Jeff Day on the live blog of Minnesota-based newspaper, The Minnesota Star Tribune, court records reveal that Westman "identifies as a female."
Day reported citing court records in Minnesota that Westman's mother applied for her child's name change in 2019 in Dakota County, from Robert Paul Westman to Robin M. Westman, after she identified as female, the report states. As per CBS affiliate KARE11, Westman's mother was an employee of the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
It adds that when the application was filed, Robin Westman was a minor and her mother had to sign off on the change. The application states that “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
Westman attacked the Annunciation Church on 54th Street in Minneapolis and fired through the church's window at around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday when the children were doing Mass. Westman was armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol. Police said the suspect died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
The shooting injured at least 17 people and killed 2 - both children, of 8 and 10 years of age. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara described the incident as "an absolutely reprehensible" act of violence.
“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,” Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis said.
“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in a church.”
