Yet another transgender extremist (biologically male) targeted a religious school and killed two children in a Catholic church during mass, on Wednesday. Despite the monstrous actions and the anti-Catholic messages written on the shooter’s equipment (like “Where is your God now?”), CNN’s Jake Tapper took to his show, The Lead, and wanted to make sure people were using the school shooter’s preferred pronouns and to make sure he wasn’t ‘dead named.’
While speaking with CNN correspondent Brian Todd for an update on what we knew about the shooter, Tapper broke his personal rule about not saying a mass shooter’s name (to not give them the notoriety they craved). Tapper wanted to set the record straight that the shooter wanted to be identified as a female and changed his name:
TAPPER: The Minneapolis Star Tribune says, according to court records – Because there's been some confusion about what the shooter's name was.
TODD: Yes.
TAPPER: Robin Westman's mother applied to change her child's name in 2019. It was at one point “Robert Paul Westman.”
TODD: Correct.
TAPPER: But since she identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification was underage, it's now Robin Westman.
It’s worth noting that during his update, Todd completely avoided any use of gendered pronouns, such as:
The FBI has identified the shooter as Robin Westman. 23 years old … The shooter was armed with a rifle, shotgun and a pistol, which the police chief said all were obtained recently and legally. They were purchased by the shooter … In the videos, which are titled with Westman's full name, the person recording them pages through this handwritten notebook … The person recording shows themselves stabbing a knife into that drawing of the layout of that church, while saying the words, quote, “ha, nice.”
If that wasn’t enough pandering to a dead mass shooter, far-left liberal contributor Juliette Kayyem rhetorically tripped all over herself while trying to get the shooter’s preferred pronouns correct:
It appears, based on our reporting, that he had ties– or that the assailant had ties to the school, both because, she or they went there or, because the mother went there. That now just – that now tells me that's why they knew, you know, they knew what the school looked like.
One of their precious transgendered extremists murdered two little kids, and they were more concerned about not offending the corpse of the killer.
That’s the current state of American media.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Lead
August 27, 2025
5:08:21 p.m. Eastern(…)
JAKE TAPPER: Let's bring in CNN's Brian Todd, who is tracking part of – this part of the story. Brian, what else are we learning about the shooter?
BRIAN TODD: Jake, we've obtained significant new information on the shooter. Here's what we can tell you, right now. The FBI has identified the shooter as Robin Westman. 23 years old. The agency is calling this, quote, “a domestic” – “an act of domestic terrorism.” But the police say they do not have a motive yet to establish it as a hate crime. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara says Westman has no prior criminal history. The shooter was armed with a rifle, shotgun and a pistol, which the police chief said all were obtained recently and legally. They were purchased by the shooter.
According to a yearbook obtained by CNN, Westman graduated from – [cough] excuse me – from Annunciation Catholic’s grade school in 2017. According to a social media post, Westman's mother previously worked at Annunciation from 2016 through 2021.
Police are investigating, as Whitney pointed out a moment ago, online videos apparently posted by the shooter, which describe an obsession with school shootings. The videos show a rambling, written statement with guns painted with slurs, with the names of mass killers, including the shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 and also some political messages in that in that rambling written statement.
In the videos, which are titled with Westman's full name, the person recording them pages through this handwritten notebook, the notebook describes feelings of self-hatred and wishes to die. And the words “I'm so sorry” are written in large letters on one page. The notebook also includes a diagram of the inside of a church, which appears to match the layout of Annunciation Catholic Church. The person recording shows themselves stabbing a knife into that drawing of the layout of that church, while saying the words, quote, “ha, nice.”
Jake, you know, again, piecing together this information, all of it incredibly disturbing. And again, as I think people have been pointing out since this happened, you know, you see obviously some real clues here as to what motive could be, but they're not saying formally what it is yet.
TAPPER: The Minneapolis Star Tribune – Just as another piece of the puzzle as to who the shooter was. The Minneapolis Star Tribune says, according to court records – Because there's been some confusion about what the shooter's name was.
TODD: Yes.
TAPPER: Robin Westman's mother applied to change her child's name in 2019. It was at one point “Robert Paul Westman.”
TODD: Correct.
TAPPER: But since she identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification was underage, it's now Robin Westman. Brian Todd, thank you so much.
5:13:38 p.m. Eastern
JULIETTE KAYYEM: It appears, based on our reporting, that he had ties [catches herself] – or that the assailant had ties to the school, both because, she or they went there or, because the mother went there. That now just – that now tells me that's why they knew, you know, they knew what the school looked like.
(…)
