Prominent conservatives, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), have seized on Wednesday’s school shooting in Minneapolis and reports about the shooter’s identity to push anti-trans rhetoric and policies.
In a Wednesday post shared in response to a shooting at Annunciation Catholic School that left two children dead and 17 other children and adults wounded, Greene described “gender dysphoria” as a “mental illness” and urged Congress to pass legislation that would “make it a FELONY to perform sex change surgeries and all forms of medications on minors.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and conservative commentator Benny Johnson also shared posts alleging a “pattern” regarding instances of violence and trans or nonbinary gender identity. (These statements are patently false: As the Gun Violence Archive noted in 2024, about 0.11% of known suspects in mass shootings have been transgender in the last decade.)
And top Trump officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel, emphasized the shooter’s presumed gender identity in their updates about the shooting as well. Noem described the shooter as a “23 year-old man, claiming to be transgender” and Patel stated that the shooter was “a male” who was born under a different name.
In the hours since the shooting, there’s much that remains unknown about Robin Westman, the person who authorities have named as the perpetrator.
City commemorates pig that escaped slaughter with statue Scroll back up to restore default view.
Prominent conservatives, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), have seized on Wednesday’s school shooting in Minneapolis and reports about the shooter’s identity to push anti-trans rhetoric and policies.
In a Wednesday post shared in response to a shooting at Annunciation Catholic School that left two children dead and 17 other children and adults wounded, Greene described “gender dysphoria” as a “mental illness” and urged Congress to pass legislation that would “make it a FELONY to perform sex change surgeries and all forms of medications on minors.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and conservative commentator Benny Johnson also shared posts alleging a “pattern” regarding instances of violence and trans or nonbinary gender identity. (These statements are patently false: As the Gun Violence Archive noted in 2024, about 0.11% of known suspects in mass shootings have been transgender in the last decade.)
Related: Minneapolis Shooter ‘Obsessed With The Idea Of Killing Children,’ Officials Say
And top Trump officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel, emphasized the shooter’s presumed gender identity in their updates about the shooting as well. Noem described the shooter as a “23 year-old man, claiming to be transgender” and Patel stated that the shooter was “a male” who was born under a different name. Police and first responders work at the scene of a shooting near Annunciation Church and Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minneosta, on August 27, 2025. Police and first responders work at the scene of a shooting near Annunciation Church and Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minneosta, on August 27, 2025. TOM BAKER via Getty Images
In the hours since the shooting, there’s much that remains unknown about Robin Westman, the person who authorities have named as the perpetrator. Advertisement
Court records show that the suspect’s parent had previously filed for a legal name change that was granted in 2020 when the shooter was 17, according to NBC News. Those filings note that the “minor child identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.” It’s not clear how Westman identified more recently.
The shooter was also reportedly a student at Annunciation Catholic’s grade school in the past, and Westman’s mother had also worked there for five years, retiring in 2021.
Local authorities have said that they are still attempting to piece together a motive at this time — though Patel said the FBI is investigating the incident as domestic terror or a hate crime against Catholics — and that they are reviewing videos thought to be linked to the shooter.
Images and clips shared from the now-deleted videos show antisemitic slogans, the names of other mass shooters and the phrase, “Kill Donald Trump,” written on firearms. Together, they don’t suggest a cohesive political ideology as much as a fascination with mass violence and hateful memes.
“There is no message,” wrote Westman, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the scene of the shooting, police said.
Misgendering isn't cool.