OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
8:30 AM – Friday, September 5, 2025
Robin Westman, the transgender assailant who fatally shot two children and injured several others at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last week, had recently ended his long-term relationship with his “furry” girlfriend prior to the heart-wrenching tragedy.
A “furry” is someone who identifies with or expresses enthusiasm for anthropomorphic animal characters — animals with human traits. Those in the community participate by dressing in elaborate animal costumes, adopting an alternate persona that reflects their preferred animal identity. Many often dismiss the “subculture” as a form of mental illness, while its members counter that it is simply a creative and playful form of self-expression.
Following the tragic incident, the transgender killer’s father told investigators that his son had recently “broke up with a significant and/or romantic partner,” seemingly suggesting that the breakup had further worsened Westman’s fragile mental health.
Formerly known as Robert before transitioning to a “female identity,” the killer left behind several journals containing manifesto-like writings prior to murdering eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel and ten-year-old Harper Merkel. After taking their young lives, Westman turned the gun on himself.
His writings, deciphered from a Russian script, revealed deep resentment toward his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Abigail Bodick, who often goes by “Abbey” or “Jakub,” whom he repeatedly described in his journals as the “root of” his “suffering” and a “catalyst” for his twisted, perverse behavior.
“I just pointed my pistol at the back of Abbey’s head to see if I would feel anything,” Westman wrote. “No, the only thing I felt was fear of them turning around and catching me. I felt no remorse or fear of killing them, I was only concerned about how murdering Abbey would really f*** up my plans.”
The aforementioned “plans” seemingly referred to his premeditated slaughter of the Catholic schoolchildren, and his disturbing fantasy of being the “scary horrible monster standing over those powerless children.”
“It felt good, actually, to point it right at their stupid head. Abbey is so f***ing stupid,” the killer wrote.
An Instagram account linked to Bodick reportedly featured a profile picture of a “furry,” and a separate photo of her has also since surfaced online, showing the 22-year-old in a blue wig with large cat ears and whiskers painted on her face — while attending an anime convention earlier this year.
“I am NOT spending my life with a ‘blue hair and pronouns’ having a** b***h,” the shooter complained in his journal. “You are lucky I have bigger plans than you.”
However, Westman did in fact express fascination toward “furries,” as expressed in his writings in his disturbing manifestos, for the element of escapism it provided. He compared being a furry to his struggle with gender dysphoria and desire to become a female, which prompted him to legally change his name in 2019.
However, Westman did in fact express a fascination with “furries,” in his manifestos, describing the subculture as a form of escapism. He drew parallels between adopting a furry persona and his own struggle with gender dysphoria and desire to transition, which ultimately led him to legally change his name in 2019.
“I like feeling sexy and cute, but my face never matches how I feel. I hate my face,” the shooter wrote. “Maybe that’s why I like furries so much. You can give yourself a new body and face.”
Nonetheless, Westman later expressed, via his journal entries, that he regretted his past decision to transition to being a “trans woman,” adding that it is an “embarrassing defeat.” According to one entry, he even planned to cut his hair short on the same day he attacked those attending the Catholic Mass.
Meanwhile, this latest violent attack from an individual struggling with gender dysphoria has opened up discussions within the DOJ about possibly restricting firearm access for transgender-identifying people, according to insider sources who reached out to the press.
It’s unknown why the couple parted ways. Photos from social media dated back to at least 2022 showed the two posing together at various locations, such as an aquarium and a Renaissance fair.
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