Deux enfants âgés de 8 et 10 ans ont été tués par balle lors d’une messe marquant la rentrée scolaire à l’Annunciation Catholic School de Minneapolis (Minnesota). Quatorze autres enfants, âgés de 6 à 15 ans, ont été blessés ainsi que trois adultes octogénaires. Si la plupart des victimes devraient s’en sortir, deux enfants sont encore dans un état critique mercredi soir.
Selon le chef de la police Brian O’Hara, le tireur a ouvert le feu depuis l’extérieur du bâtiment, visant directement les enfants assis dans les bancs de l’église.
L’attaque a commencé alors que certains élèves étaient déjà installés et que d’autres entraient encore.
L’homme, vêtu de noir, avait bloqué certaines portes avec des planches avant de tirer à travers les fenêtres.
Le FBI a identifié le tireur comme étant Robin Westman, 23 ans, un homme sans casier judiciaire connu.
Mais des documents administratifs révèlent que celui-ci avait récemment engagé une procédure pour changer légalement de prénom et s’identifier comme femme. Des révélations qui ont alimenté des commentaires haineux en ligne, certains accusant la communauté trans et le courant de pensée « woke » d’être liée à la tuerie.
Face à cette récupération idéologique, le maire de Minneapolis Jacob Frey a pris la parole. « J’ai entendu beaucoup de haine dirigée contre notre communauté trans », a-t-il déclaré.
« Quiconque utilise ce drame pour diaboliser les personnes trans, ou toute autre communauté, a perdu son sens de l’humanité commune. »
Dans une vidéo, Robin Westman filme tout un arsenal de guerre, avec, une carabine AR-15, un fusil à pompe, un pistolet Glock et un revolver. De nombreux chargeurs remplis de balles sont posés sur un lit, sur lesquels il a multiplié les annotations. «Où est ton Dieu, maintenant?», peut-on lire sur l’un d’eux. «Tueur sadique», «sponsorisé par Blackrock (un géant de la finance mondiale, NDLR)», «pet de nègre», «Israël doit tomber»... sont autant d’inscriptions figurant sur les différentes armes.
Dans une vidéo, alors qu’il tourne les pages d'un cahier afin de les montrer à la caméra, il murmure: «J’ai hâte de tuer, tuer tuer, tuer, et tuer...».
00:00And we now know that the suspected shooter released a series of videos around the same time of the attack.
00:06These are disturbing, but they really provide some insight into what was going on in the shooter's mind when he acted today.
00:15Investigative reporter Ryan Raich has spent the day looking through these videos, which, and also contained a so-called manifesto.
00:24Ryan, what did you find?
00:25Yes, so right now investigators are poring over these videos scheduled to post on YouTube around the time of the shooting.
00:32They were posted under the account of Robin Westman, and they were live for a couple hours before being removed by law enforcement.
00:40One of the more jarring images from the videos is this one, the arsenal of guns and ammo on display.
00:45Something many of you may have noticed is the written words and names on some of the weapons.
00:50One of the guns says kill Trump, and others have the names of notable mass shooters, including Rupp now, likely a reference to Natalie Rupp now, the suspected mass shooter in Madison last year.
01:01The name Robert Bowers is also written on one of the weapons.
01:04He was responsible for the deadliest attack on the Jewish community.
01:08We don't know when this video was shot, but there is a reference to tomorrow.
01:13Take a listen.
01:15Tomorrow.
01:20I'm sorry to my family, but that's it.
01:26That's the only people I'm sorry to.
01:28F*** those kids.
01:30It's really disturbing to listen to.
01:32In addition to the guns and ammo, the video also flips through these pages of what appears to be a manifesto.
01:38It's addressed to my family and friends, saying in part,
01:40I'm a sad person, haunted by these thoughts that do not go away.
01:44I know this is wrong, but I can't seem to stop myself.
01:48In another video, this one, Westman shows a different letter written in another language.
01:52And ending with this map, it appears to be of a church, possibly a critical clue for investigators.
02:00We see several guns in those videos.
02:04Police say only three were used in the attack.
02:07Guys, all three purchased legally and recently.
02:11Lindsay.
02:11We are less than three miles from where you are at the school and the church.
02:39I want to get out of the way and show you where police were focusing their attention on one of the buildings back here
02:45at the Linwood Commons Apartments this afternoon.
02:49And now look at this, at this video.
02:51A little before 2 p.m., we caught a glimpse of investigators carrying out a large box of evidence.
02:58You should see it here in the video.
03:00Now, it is hard to make out, but when I was watching this play out in real time,
03:05I noticed what appeared to be at least part of a rifle or another firearm in that box.
03:10This was all from an apartment on Lindale Avenue here in Richfield connected to the suspect.
03:16And back at their family's home a couple of miles away in Minneapolis on South 1st Avenue,
03:22neighbors described to me the chaotic scene when police moved in there.
03:26It was terrifying.
03:29I was so scared.
03:30I was so afraid because this is a really quiet neighborhood.
03:36I can't imagine the little kids, how they felt about it, the confusion.
03:41It'll impact me for life, for sure.
03:45And I pray for their family.
03:49We've also learned the suspect's mother worked at the church.
03:52The church shared this picture on Facebook back in 2021 saying Mary Grace Westman had just retired from annunciation.
04:00Now, I called and emailed her today, but I have not yet received a response.
04:04And back out here live, police wrapped up their search here a few hours ago.
04:09Not a lot of people at these apartments are talking.
04:11But recently here this evening, I bumped into at least one resident who said she was at least aware of this suspect
04:17and had actually raised concerns about what she called strange behavior from that person in the past.
04:23We're live here in Richfield tonight.
04:25Eric Rasmussen, 5 Eyewitness News.
04:28All right, Eric, thank you so much.
04:31Now, earlier today, we spoke with ABC News senior justice correspondent Pierre Thomas about this situation.
04:37He says investigators, of course, will be taking a look at every part of the shooter's life,
04:41the suspect's life, looking for any clues they can.
04:44I can tell you, having covered many of these cases, they literally will do a deep dive into any type of social media postings.
04:53They basically will dissect this person's life, particularly the most recent series of days and months.
05:02And Pierre Thomas also noted that, sadly, mass shootings like this are being more common all across the country.
05:09Sadly, we see this happening routinely in this country, houses of worship, schools, movie theaters, malls.
05:17There is a chronic problem of shootings taking place at soft targets where there are large numbers of people gathered
05:24because, unfortunately, the killers know that's where they can do the most damage.
05:29There is a chronic problem of people recovered.
