Robin Westman, the suspect in the shooting at a Catholic Mass school shooting in Minnesota, left behind an alleged manifesto on YouTube, and the contents are chilling. That's according to KARE 11, a Minneapolis-based television station.
According to KARE 11, the manifesto is in Russian, but the station was able to translate parts of it, in which "it appeared the author referenced suicide, school shootings and shooters, and the Annunciation Church."
Authorities have not detailed a motive.
The Minnesota television station reported that Westman was previously known as Robert Westman but applied in a Dakota County court for a name change in 2020 to Robin Westman.
Authorities revealed in a news conference that the gunman fired through a window as a Catholic Mass unfolded at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis. Two children were shot and killed in pews, authorities said; they were ages 8 and 10. Seventeen other people were wounded. Authorities said at the news conference that the shooter died of a self-inflicted wound, they did not formally release the gunman's name, and they did not reveal a motive.
KTSP-TV, also a Minnesota television station, reviewed the manifesto before it was taken down by YouTube.
It was posted "on a YouTube page believed to belong to Westman," KTSP reported, adding that it appeared the manifesto was posted on August 27, before the shooting.
"The disturbing videos showed Westman’s arsenal of guns, ammunition and what appears to be a handwritten four-page manifesto addressed to Westman’s family and friends," KTSP reported.
“I don’t expect forgiveness … I do apologize for the effects my actions will have on your lives," KTSP quoted the alleged manifesto as saying.
“I was corrupted by this world and have learned to hate what life is,” it continued.
“I have wanted this for so long. I am not well. I am not right. I am a sad person, haunted by these thoughts that do not go away. I know this is wrong, but I can’t seem to stop myself," it added, according to KTSP, which published pages from it.
