Minnesota school shooter Robin Westman feared that vaping use had caused terminal cancer before they decided to open fire at a Catholic School, killing two children.
The 23-year-old transgender gunman posted a suicide note to a now-deleted YouTube page just hours before shooting through stained glass windows at children sitting on the pews inside Annunciation Catholic School’s church on Wednesday morning.
Two children aged eight and 10 were killed in the attack and at least 17 other victims – 14 children and three adults – were injured before Westman died by suicide, authorities have said.
The shooter explained in a suicide note how they were struggling for years with depression and suicidal thoughts – which apparently grew worse with the belief they had terminal cancer.
‘It’s a tragic end as it’s entirely self-inflicted,’ Westman wrote, explaining: ‘I did this to myself as I cannot control myself and have been destroying my body through vaping and other means.’
Westman also told her family and friends that the belief she was dying of cancer came from ‘many pains that make me think I am past the point of recovery.’
‘I do not want to recover – I do not want to throw my life away by rotting in a hospital bed,’ the gunman continued. ‘I don’t want the rest of my life to be as a cancer patient, in and out of hospitals, constantly being fretted about with people afraid to be too happy around me.
‘F*** that! I want to go out on my own means,’ Westman explains.
‘Unfortunately, due to my depression, anger and twisted mind, I want to fulfill a final act that has been in the back of my head for years,’ the shooter wrote ominously.
Minnesota school shooter Robin Westman, 23 (pictured) feared that she was dying of cancer when she decided to open fire at a Catholic School, killing two children
She wrote in a suicide note to her family and friends how she has ‘been destroying my body through vaping and other means’
The Centers for Disease Control has warned that vaping can cause serious lung damage
The Centers for Disease Control has warned that vaping can cause serious lung damage as ‘tiny particles… can be inhaled deep into the lungs’ and certain vape flavorings are linked to lung disease.
‘Some flavorings used in e-cigarettes may be safe to eat, but not to inhale because the lungs process substances differently than the gut,’ the federal agency notes.
It also says that youth vaping is associated with mental health issues like depression and ‘nicotine addiction or withdrawal can contribute to these feelings or make them worse.’
Westman had been suffering from depression for years, the shooter wrote in the suicide note.
‘I was corrupted by this world and have learned to hate what life is,’ Westman wrote.
‘There is too much to accept, too many things to put with just to live,’ the shooter continued. ‘I’m tired of the pain this world gives out.’
Westman then goes on to say that ‘I have wanted this for so long.
Robin Westman was transgender, with family members spending $311 on an application for a name change from Robert
In much of the rest of the suicide note, Westman tried to apologize to family and friends and pleaded with them to move on
‘I am not well, I am not right. I am a sad person, haunted by those things that do not go away,’ Westman wrote.
‘I know this is wrong, but I can’t seem to stop myself,’ the shooter continued. ‘Only recently, have I lost all hope and decided to perform my final action against this world.’
In much of the rest of the suicide note, Westman tried to apologize to family members and friends and pleaded with them to move on.
‘I don’t expect forgiveness and I don’t expect an apology,’ the shooter began her letter. ‘I have to hold much weight, but to my family and those close to me, I do apologize for the effects my actions will have on your lives.
‘Please know I care for all of you so much and it pains me to bring this storm of chaos into your lives.’
Westman then told her parents to ‘please move on and continue to give your love to my brothers and sisters and to the rest of the world.
‘Forget my life and the pain I’ve brought,’ Westman asked before making a similar request to her siblings, who she admitted may now want to change their names.
At the end of her letter, Westman pleads with loved ones to ‘find hope, find love and stand up to injustice.’
A messages scrawled on one of the gunman’s firearms called for President Donald Trump to be killed
Westman shot through stained glass windows at children sitting on the pews inside Annunciation Catholic School’s church on Wednesday morning
It now appears the shooter was motivated at least in part by politics after showing off a gun part in a video which included a message aimed at President Donald Trump – calling for him to be killed.
Other gun parts had the names of other mass shooters scrawled on them.
Officials said in a press conference the shooter was armed with three guns – a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. All three weapons were fired during the attack, police said.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the shooter approached the side of the church and shot through the windows toward the children sitting in the pews.
It is unclear if the shooter fired any of the weapons from inside the church or carried out the entire mass shooting outside before going inside.
Community members are pictured embracing after the shooting left two young children killed
Parents of children at the Annunciation Church School waited patiently for news of their children’s status
Seventeen people were injured in the shooting before Westman took her own life
Police said at least two of the church doors appeared to have been blocked by two by fours before the shooting, suggesting the gunman wanted to trap the people inside.
‘This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping,’ O’Hara said at a news conference.
‘The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.’
The students at the Catholic grade school had started school on Monday and were attending mass when the shooter stormed the church, which is connected to the school.
It has since emerged that Westman’s mother, Mary, was an employee at the school before she retired in 2021.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey denounced transphobia after the revelations about Westman’s identity emerged Wednesday afternoon
Just a few years prior, Mary had signed an application for Robin to have her name changed from Robert, according to court records seen by the Daily Mail.
The petition cost the family $311 and was ultimately approved in January 2020.
It adds that Westman ‘identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.’
Yet it seemed Westman still struggled with her gender identity, writing at one point that she doesn’t ‘want to dress girly all the time but I guess sometimes I really like it.
‘I know I am not a woman but I definitely don’t feel like a man,’ she wrote, adding: ‘I really like my outfit. I look pretty, smart and modest. I think I want to wear something like this for my shooting.’
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey denounced transphobia after the revelations about Westman’s identity emerged Wednesday afternoon.
‘I have heard about a whole lot of hate that is being directed at our trans community,’ he said.
‘Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity. We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone.’
He added: ‘We should be operating from a place of love. Kids, kids died today. This needs to be about them.’