Westman and the Rise of American Nihilism

Robin Westman wrote his evil thoughts on his guns—on the slides, the magazines, the grips, the barrels. The shooter drew smiley faces on some of the barrels.


On Wednesday morning, as the kids at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis were celebrating their return with the first Mass of the year, Westman approached the stained glass window outside the church where they were gathered and opened fire. Westman murdered an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old and injured 17 others, mostly children.

Then, the 23-year-old turned his gun on himself.

An 11-minute video allegedly posted by Westman hours before the attack captures him surveying his arsenal.

On the guns are Westman’s handwritten slogans:

“6 million wasn’t enough.”

“Humanity is overrated.”

“Israel must fall.”

“Burn Israel.”

“Kill Donald Trump.”

As well as:

“Sponsored by Blackrock.”

“I’m the Woker, Baby, Why So Queerious?”

“Fart Nigga.”

“McVeigh.”

And, in Russian, “I am a terrorist” and “bitch.”

On the cover of Westman’s handwritten manifesto there was a sticker with a rifle on top of a trans flag, next to the words “Defend Equality.”

In the wake of the tragedy, as with all of these tragedies, we want to know how it happened. And who did it. And why Westman chose this time and place. (Westman’s mother apparently used to work at Annunciation Catholic School.)

But most of all, we want to know why. We want to know why, not just so we can assign blame, but so we can make sense of a country where murdering children can happen on any given Wednesday.


Peter Savodnik is senior editor at The Free Press. Previously, he wrote for Vanity Fair, as well as GQ, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Wired, and other venues—reporting from the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, South Asia, and across the US

https://www.thefp.com/p/robin-westman-and-the-rise-of-american-nihilism-minneapolis-shooting