The suspect who is alleged to have shot dead two children and injured 17 others has been named as the female-identifying son of a church employee.
Footage of Westman shared on social media showed a number of offensive messages scribbled onto his magazines, including one which said: "Kill Donald Trump."
The 23-year-old, whose mother Mary was a parish secretary at Annunciation Catholic Church before retiring in 2021, had "no significant criminal history” before today's shooting.
In a now-deleted YouTube video, Westman seemingly shared his manifesto, which also included racial slurs, anti-Trump rhetoric and text in Russian.
It also featured a drawing of a church and a man stabbing the drawing repeatedly as he said: “I’m going to kill myself.”
Other clips appeared to show the 23-year-old lauding other mass shooters, with other magazines being emblazoned with the words “for the children” and “where is your God?”
Westman's manifesto included a photograph of Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza, who killed 27 people in 2012.
The shooting at the Annunciation Church School coincided with the return of pupils aged four to 12.
Robin Westman has been identified as the shooter
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An eight-year-old and a 10-year-old were killed as they sat in the pews.
Another 17 people were injured, including 14 children.
At least seven victims were in critical condition when they arrived at a nearby hospital.
Westman was found dead as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the church's car park.
Emergency services are outside the Catholic school in Minneapolis | FOX Westman, who grew up in nearby Richfield, changed his name to Robin in 2020, at the age of 17.
The name change petition stated that Westman "identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification".
However, following today's shooting, local mayor Jacob Frey called out transphobia.
"I have heard about a whole lot of hate that is being directed at our trans community," Mr Frey said.
Law enforcement officers set up barriers after a shooting at Annunciation Church | REUTERS"Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to vilianise our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity.
"We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone."
He added: "We should be operating from a place of love. Kids, kids died today. This needs to be about them."
However, FBI chief Kash Patel indicated that agents would now conduct a terror probe into the attack.
Law enforcement use K-9 dogs to search a nearby neighborhood, after a shooting at Annunciation Church | REUTERSIn a social media post, the FBI director said: "The FBI is investigating this shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.
"There were two fatalities, an eight-year-old and a 10-year-old. In addition, 14 children and 3 adults were injured.
"The shooter has been identified as Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman.
"The FBI will continue to provide updates on our ongoing investigation with the public as we are able."