More than a month after a transgender-identifying shooter opened fire on children at the Annunciation School in Minneapolis, the Minnesota medical examiner has finally released information about the shooter’s death.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified the shooter as Robin M Westman, the attacker’s legal name that was set after he decided to identify as a woman, but lists his sex as “male,” according to a public data form obtained by The Daily Wire.
The manner of his death was determined to be suicide, and the cause of death was a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.
He was a white, six-foot-five-inch male who weighed 125 pounds, with blue eyes and “multi-colored” hair, according to the examiner.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner promptly released information about the two children tragically murdered in the August 27 attack on Annunciation School. But back in mid-September, the medical examiner told a local Minnesota outlet, Patch, that it didn’t release information on trans-identifying gunman Westman because he committed suicide.
“As a matter of practice, this office does not issue media releases on when the manner of death is Suicide, but does release limited public data on victims of homicide,” Shawn J. Wilson, Director of Medical Examiner Operations, said in a statement to the publication last month.
That statement drew scrutiny. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s website features a July 2025 press release describing a 24-year-old Hispanic male who also died by suicide: a “gunshot wound of the head.” The release included not only the young man’s name and age but also his gender, manner of death, and the city and state where he was killed.
“Other media releases from the office, which can be viewed here, have done the same, especially in cases of murder-suicide or standoffs with police that end in suicide,” Patch’s William Bornhoft noted. “The inconsistency has left a gap in one of Minnesota’s most high-profile tragedies: homicide victims are acknowledged publicly, while the shooter’s case remains absent from official releases, despite law enforcement stating the death was self-inflicted.”
The Daily Wire reached out to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office several times over the last month, requesting an explanation for why it had not yet released information about Westman. The medical examiner repeatedly said that the investigation into Westman’s death was not complete. The medical examiner’s spokesman, Wilson, told The Daily Wire to submit records requests for the information, which The Daily Wire did.
Medical examiner investigations are “completely independent from law enforcement agencies,” Wilson noted earlier this month, saying that the investigation is active until Westman’s manner and cause of death have been entered into the state electronic death registry system. Pressed by The Daily Wire to explain why Westman’s manner and cause of death had not been entered into the state electronic death registry system — since it is known that Westman shot and killed himself — Wilson said he was not at liberty to discuss the matter without a court order.
Wilson also walked back his comment to Patch, saying, “Generally, this office does not issue media releases when the manner of death is Suicide. There are of course exceptions as you noted.”
The Minneapolis killer changed his name from Robert Westman to Robin Westman in 2020, as the Free Beacon’s Peter Hassan first reported. Court filings show that Westman’s mother signed off on the name change, since her son was a minor, and the documents state that Westman “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
On August 27, around 8:30 a.m., Westman fired through the windows of the Annunciation Catholic School’s church in Minneapolis as students attended daily mass. He killed two children, ages 8 and 10, injuring 21 others before he shot himself in the parking lot, according to the Minneapolis Police Department. Among the injured were 18 children between the ages of 6 and 15, and three adults in their 80s who were worshipping at mass.
He left behind a YouTube video showing a lengthy, manifesto-like journal filled with rantings against Jews, Christians, President Donald Trump, and others. It included a transgender flag, images of Jesus Christ on a target, and sketches of Annunciation Catholic Church. His writings demonstrate that he was profoundly mentally ill and regretted his trans-identification.