He did have a smoke canister labeled, Extra Thick Jew Gas.
Very well spotted! I'm wrong, he 'identifed' as a woman. Jesus H Christ!
There's an article in The Australian today using the terms 'them' and 'she' FFS.
It makes me mad!
Minneapolis shooting: Two dead, 17 injured after gunman opens fire during mass at Annunciation Catholic School
LYDIA LYNCH
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A parent hugs her son outside Annunciation Church in Minneapolis. Picture: Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP
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Two children, aged eight and 10, have been killed and another 17 people injured in a shooting during morning mass at a Catholic school in Minneapolis.
The gunman, identified by US media as 23-year-old Robin Westman, approached outside the side of the church and began firing a rifle through the stained glass windows towards children sitting in the pews.
Parents await news of their children's status after the shooting. Picture: Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP
Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara said the shooter, who “took his own life in the parking lot”, was armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol.
“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping,” Mr O’Hara said.
“Two young children, aged eight and 10, were killed where they sat in the pews.”
Another 17 other people were injured, 14 of them children. Two remain in a critical condition.
Mr O’Hara said the gunman was in his early 20s and had no criminal history. The suspect’s car was searched by police and “no explosives or improvised devices” were found, but there was a “smoke bomb” that was “sort of a firework”.
Police are now investigating whether an an apparent manifesto is linked to Westman after a now-deleted YouTube account posted videos hours before the attack. The video reportedly showed a drawing of a church and diary entries written in both English and Russian. Messages were also scrawled onto gun magazines in a white pen, including “where is your God”, “for the children” and “kill Donald Trump”.
A screenshot from the Youtube video police are investigating, which appears to show a drawing of the inside of a church. Picture: Youtube via New York Post
'Where is your God?' was written on one of the magazines. Picture: Youtube via New York Post
Westman is believed to have changed his name from Robert to Robin in 2019, with local newspaper The Star Tribune citing court documents that showed the suspect requested the name change because they identified as female.
Robin Westman, 23, in a YouTube video that has since been deleted.
An all-school mass to mark the first week of school was scheduled to begin at 8:15am and police were called to the scene just before 8:30am (11:30pm Wednesday AEST).
Police officers entered the church and attempted to provide first aid and “rescue some of the children that were hiding throughout the building”, Mr O’Hara said.
“The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,” he said.
“Our hearts are broken for the families who have lost their children, for these young lives that are now fighting to recover, and for our entire community that has been so deeply traumatised by this senseless attack.”
A woman walks out of the Annunciation Church's school. Picture: AP /Abbie Parr
Weston Halsne, who is in Grade 5 at the school and was seated next to one of the windows during the attack, told reporters outside the school that his friend dove over him when the shooting started.
“The first one (shot) I was like ‘what is that’...and then I heard it again and I just ran under the pew and I covered my head,” he said.
“My friend Victor like saved me though because he lay on top of me, but he got hit.
“He is really brave and I hope he is good in the hospital.”
He said the students did regular active shooter drills but had “never practiced in the church”.
Law enforcement officers gather outside the Annunciation Church's school in response to the mass shooting. Picture: AP /Bruce Kluckhohn
In an emotional press conference, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said no words could can capture “the horror and the evil of this unspeakable act” as he urged the community to rally around the families of the victims.
“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,” he said.
“These are kids that should be learning with their friends, playing on the playground, they should be able to go to school or church in peace.
“These are the sort of basic assurances that every family should have, every step of the day, regardless of where they are in our country.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sits on steps of the school. Picture: AP /Abbie Parr
Outside the Hennepin Healthcare Hospital, Dr Thomas Wyatt said the hospital received 11 patients from the shooting, two of whom were adults. The children were aged between six and 14.
“Four of them required the operating room and up to this point in time there have been no fatalities related to any of the patients brought to our organisation,” he said.
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'Children are dead,' says Minneapolis mayor after school shooting
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday (August 27) spoke after a gunman opened fire on...
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Dr Wyatt, who heads the hospital’s emergency department, said he could not “get into specifics” of the injuries but doctors were “dealing with gunshot wounds from a high-velocity weapon”.
“Gunshot wounds can be very problematic because they can involve multiple body systems and require a lot of resources to manage,” he said. “But we see a lot of gunshot wounds here … we are used to seeing them.”
He added that “ there is a lot of planning and exercises we do throughout the year to prepare for these sorts of events”.
President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the “tragic shooting” and that the FBI was responding.
“The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Minnesota governer Tim Waltz also said he had been briefed on the incident.
A parent who witnessed the shooting told the The Minnesota Star Tribune that students were packed into the pews when the shooter opened fire outside the building with some kind of semiautomatic weapon.
“He just pepper-sprayed through the stained-glass windows into the building, 50 to 100 shots,” said the parent, who did not want his name used. “He killed two kids.”
“This is terrible,” he said. ”This is evil. I don’t know how you defend against this.”
Posting on social media, Governor Tim Waltz said “Minnesota is heartbroken”
“From the officers responding, to the clergy and teachers providing comfort, to the hospital staff saving lives, we will get through this together,” he said.
“Hug your kids close.”
Father Erich Rutten, whose parish is close to Annunciation, has been at the school providing support to families.
He told NBC news parents were “wailing and crying, some stooping to the ground” as they grappled with the shocking violence.
