Disclaimer: The article has mentions of shooting and killing.
A recent tragedy at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis has ignited a fierce debate on social media. Prominent conservative voices are seizing upon the reported transgender identity of the 23-year-old shooter, Robin Westman.
The gunman killed two children, aged 8 and 10, during a Wednesday morning mass attended by students and parents. Westman is reported to have committed suicide in the school parking lot immediately after the attack.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed Westman’s identity and labeled the assault, which left two children dead and at least 17 others injured, including students and elderly parishioners, a hate crime against Catholics. Patel called Westman “a domestic terrorist,” adding that the shooter “killed two kids, aged 8 and 10, before committing suicide in the parking lot behind the Annunciation Catholic School.”
Despite these official declarations, law enforcement has yet to disclose an explicit motive. Police described Westman as a “man,” but it has surfaced that a petition to change Westman’s first name from Robert to Robin was filed in 2020. That has fueled ongoing online speculation regarding Westman’s gender identity. Local authorities have refrained from commenting further on this matter.
The shooting quickly became fodder for some right-wing figures who linked Westman’s transgender status to the motive for the attack. Matt Walsh, a prominent conservative commentator, asserted, “They’re losing on every playing field, in every area of American life. We’ve defeated them politically. We’ve defeated them culturally. 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.”
Adding to the chorus, Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene cited the shooting as justification for her proposed “Protecting Children’s Innocence Act,” which would make it a felony to perform gender-related surgeries or treatments on minors.
View this post on Instagram
“Today’s evil church school shooter was a trans who was likely groomed and transitioned as a teenager,” Greene insisted. “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!”
Similarly, conservative influencer Bo Loudon moved to associate the wider transgender community with Westman’s actions. Laura Loomer, who is an adviser to former President Donald Trump, shared purported screenshots from videos posted by Westman, showing their rifle painted with provocative phrases such as “Kill Trump” and “Israel must fall,” as well as the name “Atta”—the surname of Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks.
Loomer asked her followers, “A Tranny and an Islamic sympathizer? Gee, who could have seen that coming? We have only been warning about the Red-Green alliance for how long?”
Updates on the shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota:
The FBI is investigating this shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.
There were 2 fatalities, an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old. In addition, 14 children and 3 adults were injured.
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) August 27, 2025
Valentina Gomez, a Republican candidate for a congressional seat in northern Texas, used the tragedy to argue that transgender Americans should be “reclassified as a terrorist organization.” She told her 500,000 followers, “Christians are being hunted and killed. And now multiple kids in a Christian school are dead.”
Patel reiterated the severity of the attack, describing it as a hate crime targeting Catholic worshippers. He stated the shooting had severely injured 14 children and three octogenarians.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem characterized Westman as a “deranged monster.” The responses that followed the official statements were replete with anti-transgender vitriol. One reply under Patel’s post read, “Institutionalize all trans people immediately. There’s no way they should be able to pass an FBI background check.” Another widely-liked comment declared, “It’s time to secure the Homeland from transgender monsters.”
Democrats 100 percent own transgender shooter Robin Westman. A Trump hater and anti-Christian. pic.twitter.com/9OOunQTKvJ
— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) August 27, 2025
Details about Westman’s personal background are still emerging. Public records show that Westman’s voter registration tied him to a Minneapolis address shared with his father, though Minnesota’s primary system does not release party affiliation information. Notably, Westman’s mother, Mary Grace Westman, had reportedly worked at Annunciation Church for five years.
Beyond official records and political commentary, rumors spread rapidly in digital spaces. Alleged YouTube videos by Westman, including a manifesto recorded partly in Russian and expressions of admiration for previous school shooters like Nikolas Cruz, have been circulating online.
Right-wing commentator Andy Ngo suggested, “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. This is a new phenomenon I report on and am smeared and threatened for doing so.” He further linked the event to “a surge in far-left trans propaganda encouraging Trantifa and other leftists to take up arms to kill transphobes.”
Transgenders are a ticking bomb.
– The Nashville school shooter: trans
– The Aberdeen school shooter: trans
– Then Denver school shooter: trans
– Iowa school shooter: trans
– Lakewood shooter: transThe islamized trans shooter wrote on the magazine “mashallah”
My… pic.twitter.com/3GJTTEPvfc
— Valentina Gomez (@ValentinaForUSA) August 27, 2025
Jaimee Michell, leader of the anti-trans organization Gays Against Groomers, wrote that “Gender Ideology is a death cult. It’s time we put an end to it once and for all.”
Investigation is still going on and with the kind of comments that have been flowing in show that the American leadership is more invested in the person’s gender identity than the actual problem of mass shooting, which should have been the point of focus here.
