MAGA has seized on reports that the 23-year-old who opened fire on children as they prayed inside a Minneapolis Catholic school is transgender.
FBI Director Kash Patel identified Robin Westman as the murderer who gunned down two children—aged 8 and 10—before committing suicide in the parking lot behind the Annunciation Catholic School.
Right-wing influencers were quick to assert that Westman’s motive to kill stemmed from being trans. Police described Westman as a “man.” Records show that a petition was filed in 2020 to change Westman’s first name from Robert to Robin.
Local police did not pass comment on Westman’s gender. But a series of MAGA names linked the murders to gender politics.
The right-wing political commentator Matt Walsh suggested Wednesday’s shooting was the result of growing anger within the trans community that their “agenda is losing.”
“They’re losing on every playing field, in every area of American life. We’ve defeated them politically. We’ve defeated them culturally,” he said. “But understand this: now is precisely the moment when trans militants are the MOST dangerous. They’ve lost. The game is over. Now they’re more desperate than ever. More full of hatred and anger than ever. They’re going down, but they’ll take as many sane, normal people with them as they can. It’s going to get worse from here. Be on your guard.”
“Today’s evil church school shooter was a trans who was likely groomed and transitioned as a teenager,” said Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. “Congress MUST PASS my bill ‘Protecting Children’s Innocence Act’ to make it a FELONY to perform sex change surgeries and all forms of medications on minors!”
Bo Loudon, who has been described as Barron Trump’s best friend, was among those who linked the entirety of the trans community to Westman’s horrific acts.
The far-right influencer Laura Loomer, who has become an adviser to President Donald Trump, shared screenshots of videos posted by Westman’s rifle that showed it was painted with phrases and names. Among what was written on it was “Kill Trump,” “Israel must fall,” and “Atta,” the surname of the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“A Tranny and an Islamic sympathizer? Gee, who could have seen that coming?” Loomer posted to X. “We have only been warning about the Red-Green alliance for how long?”
Valentina Gomez, a Republican provocateur who is running for Congress to represent an area of northern Texas, posted to her 500,000 followers that transgender Americans need to be reclassified as a “terrorist organization.”
“Christians are being hunted and killed,” Gomez claimed. “And now multiple kids in a Christian school are dead.”
Patel described Westman as a domestic terrorist in his statement. He said the shooting, which also injured 14 children and three adults in their 80s, was a hate crime against Catholics.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Westman a “deranged monster.” The comments under the posts from her and Patel were filled with anti-trans hatred.
“Institutionalize all trans people immediately,” read the top comment under Patel’s post. “There’s no way they should be able to pass an FBI background check.”
Another with hundreds of likes read, “It’s time to secure the Homeland from transgender monsters.”
Westman’s voter registration listed his address as being the same as his father’s in Minneapolis. The state has an open primary system and does not make political registration records public.
Police have yet to reveal a potential motive. Facebook posts from Annunciation show that Westman’s mother, Mary Grace Westman, was an employee at the church for five years. Neither of Westman’s parents responded to calls from the Daily Beast.
Westman’s alleged YouTube videos, which included a recording of a manifesto written partially in Russian and praised previous mass shooters like Parkland’s Nikolas Cruz, have circulated online.
Andy Ngo, of the right-wing site The Post Millennial, claimed that Westman’s slaying comes amid a “surge in far-left trans propaganda encouraging Trantifa and other leftists to take up arms to kill transphobes.”
“There is an epidemic of mass killers who are transgender identifying in the U.S. as transgender ideology has become encouraged, mainstreamed, and institutionally supported,” he said. “This is a new phenomenon I report on and am smeared and threatened for doing so.”
Jaimee Michell, founder of the anti-trans organization Gays Against Groomers, wrote in reaction to the shooting that “Gender Ideology is a death cult.”
“It’s time we put an end to it once and for all,” she added.
