Parents await news of their children's status after shooting at Annunciation Church on Wednesday morning, 27 August 2025, in Minneapolis. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Shooter Attacks Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis

By SM Staff

27 August 2025

Update: 28 August, 10:00 a.m.

A day after the shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we now have some firmer information about the alleged assailant as well as updates on the victims.

All 17 hospitalized victims are now expected to survive. Emergency services officials praised an initial, accurate estimate by Minneapolis police of about 20 gunshot victims at the church, which helped divert appropriate and right-sized resources to emergency rooms and trauma centers, reducing panic and improving care for patients, the Star-Tribune reported.

Hundreds of people turned out last night for evening vigils.

Meanwhile, investigators were quick to dig into the background of the suspected perpetrator, now identified as Robin Westman, 23, who had once attended Annunciation Catholic School. Officials also confirmed that Westman's mother worked in the business office of Annunciation Catholic Church from 2016 until she retired in 2021.

Westman had no criminal record and legally purchased the rifle, pistol, and shotgun used in the shooting.

The suspect had worked at a medical cannabis dispensary until 16 August; a coworker told the Minnesota Star-Tribune that Westman had been disciplined for lateness and skipping work.

An account affiliated with Westman published a two-volume manifesto on YouTube at roughly the same time as the shootings, including writings that cite or reference other mass shooters—especially the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre—as well as a variety of violent drawings. YouTube removed the videos, which showed writings that appear to indicate a series of grievances and ideations of harm to self or others, ABC News explained. The videos include racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Christian phrases and symbols, as well as calls to kill U.S. President Donald Trump and destroy the Israeli state.

The person in the videos—whose face is never seen—shows off a variety of materials, including wooden planks sporting online meme phrases and jokes, ammunition magazines, and firearms with phrases and mass violence perpetrators’ names scrawled on them.

“Westman whispered pronouncements of impending doom as hands turned the pages of handwritten text,” the Star-Tribune reported. “The manifesto also featured an obsession with death and repeatedly mentions a brotherhood with other school shooters, which began in the 7th grade.”

The videos include a blend of extremist content and signals of emotional turmoil. In the video, Westman can be heard saying “I love my family” and “I can’t deal with this anymore.”

The writing also displays a favoritism for school shootings because the speaker loves “the awful slaughter of innocents,” according to the Star-Tribune’s report.

The videos allegedly outlined plans for the shootings at Annunciation Church. One notebook shown in the videos included drawn maps and layouts of the inside of the church, and the writer expresses a desire to attack “a large group of kids” and “catch a big assembly on the first day of school,” avoiding parents, who might be armed, according to analysis from The Independent.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that the videos were posted by Westman. Investigators are still trying to parse out a specific motive for the attack on Annunciation Church and School.

FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.

Published 27 August, 1:30 p.m.

Two children were killed in a shooting today at Annunciation Church in south Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Shortly before 8:30 a.m. local time, a shooter armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol fired dozens of bullets through the church's windows toward children and other worshippers sitting in the pews at morning Mass, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The service was part of the first week of classes at Annunciation Catholic School, which is attached to the church.

Seventeen other people were wounded, mostly children, including several in critical condition. Children as young as 6 were injured. The two children who died were 8 and 10 years old. Their identities have not been released.

Family reunification was held in the school shortly after the shooting concluded.

The shooter is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot at the rear of the church. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a press conference that the attacker was in their early 20s and does not have a known criminal history.

O’Hara noted that a wooden plank was placed to barricade at least two of the side doors, although it is unclear if the attacker placed the barricades, CNN reported. The location of shell casings show that the attacker fired all shots from outside the building.

Police and other authorities, including the FBI, are investigating the incident, including searching for any potential motive.

“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping,” O’Hara said in a press conference. “The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.”

Security Management will continue to monitor the situation and add more information here as details emerge.

Resources

ASIS International has a variety of resources to help school professionals improve security and safety. See below for a selection.

School Security Standard. Released today, this new standard from ASIS International provides a comprehensive framework for K-12 schools to build, implement, and sustain security programs through multidisciplinary collaboration, risk-based planning, and continuous improvement. The standard also includes annexes on physical protection systems, behavioral threat assessment, and emergency operations planning. Learn more here.

ASIS School Safety and Security Community. ASIS members can join the school security community to discuss challenges, trends, and resources.

ASIS Cultural Properties Community. ASIS members can join the cultural properties community to discuss challenges, trends, and resources related to protecting faith-based organizations and other cultural sites.