by & nbspemma de ruiter & nbspwith & nbspAP
It’s published
The shooter who killed two Minneapolis Catholic school students and injured more than dozens of other people was full of hatred and praised mass murderers, authorities revealed Thursday.
“It’s very clear that this shooter is trying to terrorize these innocent children,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
Robin Westman, 23, fired 116 rifle rounds through a stained glass window, but the kids celebrated Mass in the first week of Catholic school classes
Authorities say Westman once attended the same school and is “obsessed” with the idea of killing children.
Representing attorney Joe Thompson said the video and writings left by the shooter showed that the shooter “expressed hatred for almost every group he could imagine.”
The only group Westman didn’t hate was the “mass murderers,” Thompson added. “In short, the archers seemed to hate us all.”
Investigators recovered hundreds of evidence from the church and three residences, the police chief said. They found more writings from the suspects, but there were no additional firearms or clear motives for attacks on the churches the shooters once attended. Westman had a “confusing charm” in the mass murder, O’Hara said.
“There is no evidence to understand such an unthinkable tragedy,” he said.
Surveillance video captured the attack, showing that the shooter never entered the church and that he couldn’t see the children while firing through the window alongside Pugh, the police chief said.
Westman, whose mother worked in the parish before retiring in 2021, left several videos and pages on the page of text describing his complaints. “I know this is wrong, but I can’t seem to stop myself.”
O’Hara said Westman was armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol and died of suicide.
Grief families speak up
The family described one of the victims, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, as a boy who loved his family and loved fishing, cooking, and any sport he was allowed to play.
“We will never be allowed to hug him, talk to him, play with him, see him grow into a wonderful young man on the path to becoming,” his father, Jesse, said she was reading the statement outside the church on Thursday in tears.
Harper Moysky, 10, the parents of the other victims, said in a statement that she was a bright and joyous child.
“Our hearts are broken not only as parents, but also for Harper’s sister, who worships her sister and grieves her unimaginable loss,” said Michael Moiskey and Jackie Flavin. “As a family, we are shattered and words can’t capture the depths of the pain.”
They said they hope that her memory will help drive the leader.
City officials on Thursday increased the number of injured children, ages 6-15, to 15. Three parishioners in their 80s were also injured. Only the children were in serious condition.