Minneapolis school attacker ‘obsessed with idea of killing children’, officials say

Inspectors say that the attacker, who opened fire on the students while praying in a church in Minneapolis, is “obsessed with the idea of ​​killing children”.

According to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’hara, Robin Westman, who killed the two children and injured 18 other people, had a certain reason.

The attacker said, “He seemed to hate all of us.”

The killed children were described by the family as eight -year -old Fletcher Merkel and 10, 10, 10.

“Yesterday, a cowardly eight -year -old son decided to take Fletcher from us.” He said.

He said, “We will never be allowed to keep him, to talk to him, to play with him, to watch the wonderful young man he is on his way to being.”

“Fletcher loved any sport that was allowed to cook and play.”

“Please remember Fletcher because it’s not the action that ends his life,” he strangled his tears.

“A hug and kiss your children today. We love you, Fletcher. You will always be with us.”

Harper Moyski, Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin’s parents, said in a statement, their daughters, “laughter, kindness and spirit touched everyone who knows him bright, cheerful and deeply loved 10 years old,” he said.

The family said that Harper’s little sister was “admired for her sister and is an unimaginable loss.”

“As a family, we become shattered and words cannot catch the depth of our pain.”

He added that he hoped for “action of memory fuels” to stop the family’s arms severity.

“No family should have to endure such a pain …. Change is possible and this is necessary – so Harper’s story does not become anything else in a long tragedy.”

The authorities have published several details about the suspect’s history so far, but they said that they had previously gone to the church school and that he had a mother working there.

The 23 -year -old suspect is believed to be approaching the side of the Announcement Church, which hosts a school and makes dozens of firing from windows using three firearms. Police found a smoke bomb at the scene.

Witnesses explained that children saw their bleeding while fleeing from the church, and begging foreigners to help.

“At a press conference on Thursday, US Chief Public Prosecutor Minnesota Joseph Thompson said,” The shooter expressed hate against many groups, including the Jewish community and the president Trump, “he said.

Authorities left an aggressive note that died in a self -harmful firearm wound, but added that a definite reason may never be known.

Im I will not honor by repeating the attacker’s words, the terrible and inferiority, Mr Mr. Thompson said.

Westman’s name was legally changed from Robert to Robin in 2020 and the judge wrote: “Little child is defined as a woman”. However, some Federal officials and police mentioned Westman as a man while discussing the attack.

In his statement to the chief O’hara, he said that news organizations should stop using the name of the murderer, because “the purpose of the shooter actions was to achieve a bad fame.”

He added that “he has experienced some imbalance against previous mass shootings,” like many other mass shooters we see in this country very often and in the world. “

US officials have warned for years that masses could lead to imitating murders because the killers are trying to be famous for their disgusting crimes.

Some major news organizations have a policy of not defining collective killers.

The FBI director Kash Patel described the attack as an act of “an act of internal terrorism motivated by a hateful ideology”.

In an article in X, Patel said that the attacker left many anti -Catholic references in the weapons and notes revealed by researchers.

“The issue expressed hatred and violence against the Jewish people, the writing of Israel, ” Free Palestine ” and Holocaust should use a clear language, he said.

The killer also wrote an open call for violence against President Trump in a firearms magazine.

At the news conferences, the authorities confirmed that the attacker had previously went to school. His mother Mary Grace Westman has previously worked at school and has never responded to the attempts of law enforcement officers to contact him.

They also confirmed that three houses associated with the attacker from suburban Minneapolis were sought by the police.

They said the church had locked its doors before starting the mass service and probably saved many lives.

Authorities added that the weapons used in the attack were legally purchased, that the killer did not appear in any government monitoring list, and that the police were not aware of any mental health diagnosis or treatment.

Witnesses and relatives of the victims speaking to the BBC described the scenes of violent violence.

Patrick Scallen, who lives near the church, said that he saw three children escaped from the building – one of them is a girl with a head wound.

“” Please hold my hand, don’t leave me, “he continued to say, and I said I wasn’t going anywhere.”

When the shooting took place, Vincent Francoual, who was in the church of his 11 -year -old Chloe, said he was trying not to panic after hearing the news.

He described that children in the US were trained to prepare for collective shots.

“We live in a country where we trained what to do to children. And he did what he had to do,” he said.

“This is a pattern. It’s no longer a freak accident.” He said.

“I told my wife every morning, when we dropped our children, we didn’t know if we would go back.”

Originally from France, Francoual said Chloe was afraid to return to school or church.

After the attack, many deputies, including the Mayor of Minneapolis, asked the state to ban the attack weapons.

Mayor Jacob Frey said, “There is no reason for someone to make 30 shots before reinstalling.” He said.

“We don’t talk about your father’s shotgun here. We’re talking about weapons built to drill the armor and kill people.”