Questions on shooter’s motive remainPolice have yet to establish a motive for Wednesday’s shooting, which claimed the lives of two young children.Investigators are now analyzing a journal thought to have belonged to Westman containing writings in English and Cyrillic, expressing, among other things, a desire to gun down “a big assembly on the first day of school”.Other entries in the notebook described feeling a sense of self-hatred and wanting to die, as well as being “morbidly obsessed” with past school shooters.Though authorities previously described the writings as a “manifesto,” analysis by CNN revealed Westman had written that there was “no message.”Mike Bedigan30 August 2025 06:30White House highlights arrest of DC teen when asked how they can reassure parents over school shootingsWhite House highlights arrest of DC teen when asked how they can reassure parents over school shootingsMike Bedigan30 August 2025 06:00’It’s extremely surreal’: Neighbors ‘thunderstruck’ by shooter’s actionsNeighbors of the Westmans said they were taken completely by surprise by what had unfolded on Wednesday, after cops searched the residence of the shooter in the Richmond suburb of Minneapolis, following the shooting.“I would say I was thunderstruck,”Jim White, who lives across the street, told The Independent. “We would always say hello to each other in passing and maybe chat a little bit. They actually gave me a bunch of landscaping rock to use in my yard, and so [they were] good neighbors and all the rest of that.White added: “I’d see their kids coming and going pretty frequently, and the father would always be out working on cars or motorcycles and stuff with the kids, so this was not a family you would have thought this kind of thing would happen to.“I never saw anything that would have suggested that anything like this would have even been possible… It is extremely surreal.”Mike Bedigan30 August 2025 05:30Police have spoken to the shooter’s mother. Who is she?Police revealed Friday that “there has been a conversation” with the mother of Robin Westman.Mary Grace Westman worked as a secretary at the Minneapolis school her child opened fire at for five years before her retirement in 2021, according to a Facebook post and a church blog. Her brother Robert Heleringer, a former Republican representative in the Kentucky General Assembly, described their family’s strictly Catholic upbringing in multiple op-eds published in the 2010s.She has retained criminal defense attorney Ryan Garry following the attack. Garry is known for his work with NFL star Colin Kaepernick on representing the George Floyd protestors.When asked on Fox News on Thursday why Mary Grace had retained an attorney, Garry said: “She is completely distraught about the situation and has no culpability but is seeking an attorney to deal with calls like this.”Mike Bedigan30 August 2025 05:01Watch: Mike Johnson says ‘the human heart’ and not guns are responsible for school shootingsMike Johnson says ‘the human heart’ and not guns are responsible for school shootingsMike Bedigan30 August 2025 04:30In pictures: Tributes and memorials left outside Annunciation Catholic Church(AP)(AP)(AP)(AP)Mike Bedigan30 August 2025 03:54Minnesota governor Tim Walz: ‘It’s time to take action’Mike Bedigan30 August 2025 03:26Police have spoken with shooter’s motherChristopher Gaiters, the police department’s assistant chief of community trust, declined to share much on the investigation into the Annunciation shooting at Friday’s press conference.However, he did say “there has been a conversation” with the shooter’s mother.”Gaiters also said that there will be extra patrols for schools and places of worship over the next several days.These will be carried out by officers working overtime and with support from other agencies.“We recognize that people want to be reassured that our community’s going to be safe, that our children are going to be safe,” Gaiters said.Oliver O’Connell30 August 2025 02:51Mayor praises response by city staffDuring a news conference on Friday afternoon, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey praised city staff from multiple departments for their immediate and ongoing response to the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church.Joining the mayor were representatives from the Office of Community Safety, the Emergency Management Department, and the police force.“I’m proud of the performance of the last several days, and we also know that it’s not over yet,” Frey said.He added that years of preparation went into the response to Wednesday’s shooting.“Following the events of 2020, we as a city did not sit back on our hands,” he said. “We did everything possible to improve emergency management and crisis response.”Public outrage and protests over the murder of George Floyd by the police in 2020 gave way to widespread civil disorder in the city over five days in late May 2020.Part of the city’s reset of how it handles major incidents involved a trip to Maryland for several days of simulated crises, coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Frey said: “Those simulations, that collective work and the stick-to-it-ness that we showed in the years following helped to prepare us for emergencies of any kind.”Oliver O’Connell30 August 2025 02:38Classmates say Minnesota school shooter gave Nazi salutes and idolized school shootingsJosefina Sanchez, who attended St. Agnes Catholic School with Westman in sixth and seventh grades, said there were “definitely red flags” with the shooter’s behavior.Speaking to KARE 11, Sanchez said Westman would be verbally abusive to other students in their middle school classes and perform Nazi salutes when teachers had their backs turned.Mike Bedigan has the story.Oliver O’Connell30 August 2025 02:19
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Minneapolis school shooting live updates: Robin Westman’s father reveals new details about attacker to police
