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OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
9:30 AM – Friday, August 29, 2025
The mother of the deranged gunman who killed two children at Annunciation Catholic School has obtained a defense attorney and is not speaking to police.
On Thursday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that the Minneapolis mass shooter’s connection to the Catholic school was through his mother, Mary Grace Westman, who had worked there for five years before retiring in 2021.
Mary had signed court paperwork in 2019 allowing the shooter to legally change his name from “Robert” to “Robin” at age 17, writing that he “identifies as a female.”
Her 23-year-old son, however, revealed in a manifesto before the attack that he was “tired of being trans,” and felt “brain-washed.” He had also planned to cut his long hair — his “last shred of being trans” — on the day of the attack.
O’Hara reported at Thursday’s news conference that the police had dozens of interviews with people close to the now deceased gunman and those present at the scene, but his mother was not among those interviewed.
“I know we have not been successful in talking to the shooter’s mother, yet, at this time,” O’Hara said. “But there continue to be efforts made to get that done.”
Investigators have not confirmed yet if the shooter lived with either of his parents, noting that there are three addresses associated with the individual.
“I can’t verify right now which residence he was staying at immediately prior to the shooting, but that’s obviously something that will come with the investigation as it continues,” O’Hara said.
The FBI was indeed seen approaching one of the residences associated with the Westman family, calling on “Ms. Westman,” specifically. WINK news captured three officers, dressed casually, walking up to her home in East Naples, Florida, announcing their presence outside of her door.
Furthermore, FOX News discovered that Mary hired a defense attorney named Ryan Garry. Garry is most known for his work with NFL star Colin Kaepernick, who represented the George Floyd protestors.
Garry told Fox, “She is completely distraught about the situation and has no culpability but is seeking an attorney to deal with calls like this.”
The shooter had filmed both an 11-minute manifesto video and a 20-minute video flipping through several notebooks, which were filled with a non-English script that the suspect had meticulously translated. These have been reposted across social media.
Though the FBI had taken the videos down for review, FBI Director Kash Patel posted updates to the investigation of the “barbaric attack” to X on Thursday.
“Subject left multiple anti-Catholic, anti-religious references both in his manifesto and written on his firearms,” Patel wrote.
As we continue to investigate yesterday’s barbaric attack from Robert Westman, the male subject, our teams have gathered information and evidence demonstrating this was an act of domestic terrorism motivated by a hate-filled ideology.
Some updates:
-Subject left multiple…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) August 28, 2025
This likely referenced the image of Jesus that the subject had taped to a shooting target on his wall. He also filmed himself stabbing a knife into a drawing he made of the chapel where the children would be praying on Wednesday morning, and wrote “Where is your God now?” on one of his firearms.
“Subject expressed hatred and violence toward Jewish people, writing ‘Israel must fall,’ ‘Free Palestine,’ and using explicit language related to the Holocaust,” Patel reported.
Lastly, Patel said, “He wrote an explicit call for violence against President Trump on a firearm magazine.”
This last note refers to a magazine with the inscription, “Kill Donald Trump,” that the shooter showed off in one of his videos. He also wrote on the sight of one of his firearms, “Kill Trump now!”
Two children, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski, were fatally shot during the Catholic students’ 8:15 a.m. Mass on Wednesday. Additionally, 19 others were also injured during the incident.
The investigation is currently ongoing.
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