<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Police are investigating online videos apparently posted by the shooter who killed two children and injured 17 other people at a Catholic church in Minneapolis, which describe an obsession with school shootings and show a rambling written statement and numerous guns painted with slurs, mass killers' names and political messages.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara identified the suspected shooter as Robin Westman, who died from a self-inflicted wound after firing into Annunciation Catholic Church during a morning Mass.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Westman, 23, graduated from Annunciation's grade school in 2017, according to a yearbook photo obtained by CNN.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>LIVE UPDATES:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/porepunkah-victoria-police-shooting-live-updates-latest-news-headlines-august-28/f7468db3-e8b6-45b9-92b0-16de670d2c26" target="_blank"><strong><span>Police share direct message to Dezi Freeman</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Authorities are now evaluating a series of bizarre videos posted to YouTube by a user identified as "Robin W" to authenticate them and potentially learn more about the motivations in the attack, police sources told CNN.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The videos, which have been taken down, were uploaded on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>O'Hara said the shooter had posted a "manifesto" that was timed to be published on YouTube, and that investigators were going through it to "try and develop a motive from that".</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/minneapolis-us-police-examine-online-videos-writings-possibly-linked-to-church-shooting-suspect/53e05335-cdf5-44dc-9d5a-926efa53ab2c" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the videos, two of which were titled with Westman's full name, the person recording the video pages through a handwritten notebook and displays a shooting target with an image of Jesus and a collection of guns, magazines and ammunition laid out on a bed.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Various messages and racial and religious slurs were written on the weapons, including "psycho killer" and "suck on this!"</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Antisemitic messages were also scrawled on the guns, with one reading "6 million wasn't enough".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Another magazine had the message, "kill Donald Trump".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bob-katter-threatens-journalist-immigration-rallies/5ef3fbd1-976d-4b83-b178-e4e7b2414f8d" target="_blank"><strong><span>'I've punched blokes in the mouth': Katter threatens 9News journo</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In a voiceover of one video, the person filming also claimed to have met and to support Brandon Herrera, a pro-gun YouTuber who lost a Republican primary for a Texas congressional seat last year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Herrera condemned the attack in a social media message posted on Wednesday afternoon, saying the shooter would "burn in hell."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Another of the gun magazines shown in the videos lists the names of six notorious mass shooters, including Adam Lanza, whom the suspect wrote they had a "deep fascination" for.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lanza gunned down 26 people – including 20 children – at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The name of Robert Bowers, who was convicted of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, is also legible on the side of one of the weapons.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The rambling notebook – which was written partially in English and partially using English words in Cyrillic script with some Russian words – expresses feelings of self-hatred and wishes to die.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/porepunkah-shooting-updates-manhunt-for-accused-gunman-dezi-freeman-enters-third-day/c1ad8829-6fe9-4de8-aa8a-24f0a62dc1bd" target="_blank"><strong><span>The grim reality facing authorities in the hunt for accused cop killer</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Other entries described the author becoming "morbidly obsessed" at a young age with Lanza and other past school shooters.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I'm so sorry" is written in large letters on one page. The person filming whispered "I love my family" while recording that page, and said "I don't know what else to say" at another point in the video.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The notebook also included a diagram of the inside of a church that seems to match the layout of Annunciation Church.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The person recording showed themselves stabbing a knife into the drawing while saying, "ha, nice."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The writings in the notebook, along with images on the weapons, express a wide embrace of racism and antisemitic views – although the author claims those extremist ideas aren't expressly the reason behind the attack.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In regards to my motivation behind the attack I can't really put my finger on a specific purpose. It definitely wouldn't be for racism or white supremacy," the notebook reads.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I don't want to do it to spread a message. I do it to please myself. I do it because I am sick."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/major-russian-attack-includes-rare-strikes-on-the-center-of-kyiv-killing-at-least-21/377f8b8b-06aa-4f23-9846-d33638d81e47"><strong><span>Any hope of peace falls apart as deadly strike threatens all-out war</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cody Zoschak, a senior manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a research group that tracks extremism online, told CNN that the videos seemed similar to writings published by Solomon Henderson, who fatally shot a fellow student and injured one other person before killing himself at a Nashville high school earlier this year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"He was associated with similar online subcultures and nihilistic violence; he had a very confusing mix of materials in his manifesto, and generally we saw a lot of efforts to misdirect and or troll," Zoschak said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The suspect's last known address was at Westman's father's home about a 20-minute walk from Annunciation, on a quiet block of craftsman bungalows.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The elder Westman and a woman were seen by several neighbours sitting on the curb on Wednesday, looking stricken as law enforcement officers from various agencies went through their house.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Jim White, 57, who lives across the street, described them as a friendly couple who, when they learned White was working on a landscaping project, gave him hundreds of cement blocks to create a planter that now adorns his front lawn.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They are very nice neighbours, very good people," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Neighbour Terry Cole said he didn't remember seeing the suspected shooter often in the neighbourhood.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cole briefly choked up while speaking with a CNN reporter.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They are a wonderful couple — a good part of this neighbourhood," he said. "People take care of each other here. It's just such an absolute shock."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The suspected shooter's mother worked at Annunciation from 2016 through 2021, according to social media posts.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Westman attended the Minnesota Transitions Charter School for two months at the beginning of the 2017 school year, after graduating from Annunciation, a spokesperson for the charter school confirmed, but it's unclear whether the suspect graduated from high school.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/wisconsin-missing-kayaker-who-faked-his-own-death-is-sentenced-to-89-days-in-jail/14ab988a-6cc4-4f16-8098-f5ae43a9bb5e"><strong><span>Judge doubles sentence for missing kayaker who faked his own death</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 2019, the suspect's mother filed to legally change the suspect's name from Robert Paul Westman to Robin M. Westman, court documents show.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A judge who approved the petition in January 2020 wrote that the suspect "identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A search of state court records showed no criminal history for Westman, but some traffic citations in 2021.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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