Law enforcement officers gather outside the Annunciation Church’s school in response to the mass shooting. (Picture credit: AP)
The shooter who opened fire on children praying inside a Minneapolis church once attended the same Catholic school and was “obsessed” with killing children, authorities revealed on Thursday.Police identified the assailant as 23-year-old Robin Westman, who fired 116 rifle rounds through stained-glass windows at Annunciation Catholic School during Mass in the first week of classes.
“It is very clear that this shooter had the intention to terrorise those innocent children,” Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara was quoted as saying by news agency AP, adding that Westman had a “deranged fascination with mass killings.”According to acting US Attorney Joe Thompson, writings and videos left behind showed that the shooter “expressed hate towards almost every group imaginable,” with the only exception being “mass murderers.” Thompson added, “In short, the shooter appeared to hate all of us.”Surveillance footage revealed that Westman never entered the church but sprayed bullets blindly through the windows aligned with pews full of children. As per AP, two students were killed, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski, while 15 children aged 6 to 15 and three parishioners in their 80s were injured. One child remains in critical condition.Fletcher’s father, Jesse Merkel, described his son as a boy who loved fishing, cooking and sports. “We will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming,” he said tearfully. The parents of Harper Moyski, Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin, said their daughter was “bright and joyful,” adding, “As a family, we are shattered, and words cannot capture the depth of our pain.”O’Hara confirmed that Westman, who was armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, died by suicide. Investigators recovered hundreds of pages of writings, some in Cyrillic script, as well as online videos listing names of past mass shooters. As reported by BBC, federal officials referred to the attack as domestic terrorism. FBI director Kash Patel said it was motivated by “a hate-filled ideology” that included anti-religious slurs and explicit calls for violence.Students and staff described scenes of terror. One fifth-grader was quoted as saying by AP that he ducked beneath a pew while a friend shielded him and was struck. “I was super scared for him, but I think now he’s OK,” the 10-year-old said.Minnesota governor Tim Walz deployed state law enforcement to schools and churches, saying no child should fear “gunshots erupting during prayer.” Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey renewed calls for a ban on assault weapons, was quoted as saying by BBC, “We’re not talking about your father’s hunting rifle here. We’re talking about guns that are built to pierce armour and kill people.”
