An art teacher who had the shooter of the Catholic Church Annunciation in his class in 2017 said he saw signs of self -harm at his then student.
The teacher, Sarah Reely, said that Robin Westman was in her class for a year at a Boysian preparatory school in Minnesota, where she noticed evidence of self -harm in the student’s arm and reported it.
“Self -designs is a cry of help, an indication of self -hate or both. But it is always to sign that something is wrong,” Reely wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Westman, 23, opened fire in the Catholic Church Annunciation in Minneapolis during the morning mass on Wednesday, killing two children and wounding another 18 worshipers.
Reely said in his publication that he saw a photo of Westman, a transgender woman, and immediately recognized her. The teacher said that she knew that at that moment was “a child who needed help.”
“She was definitely strange, she was really interested in Furries and strange works of art and said some strange things, but it wasn’t violent with others that I know,” Reey wrote. “Being strange is not a red flag: I myself was a strange child and I have always had a heart for strange children.”
Reely said Westman did not fit into school: “As one could imagine, he would happen to a queer child in a conservative environment,” and that “intentionally he made a point to build a relationship” with her.
Westman finally transferred the schools, Reely said, but always expected her former student to be fine.
“I am not publishing this to develop sympathy for a murderer or blame any person or entity for not stopping this,” Reely wrote. “I am publishing this to remind people that it is an effect of snowball of multiple systems of multiple systems nationwide, that each murderer was a child in the classroom of someone who needed help, and that this problem is much deeper and more complicated than we want to admit.”
Reely refused to talk to NBC News about Westman.
On Wednesday, Westman fired a rifle through the side windows of the Church of the Annunciation Catholic School, pointing to children sitting in the banks, just before 8:30 am
Westman was a student in Annunciation, and his mother, Mary Grace Westman, had worked once at school.
The shooter was found dead in the back of the church with an apparent self -inflicted bullet wound in the head, according to search orders. She was found dressed in “tactical” black equipment with at least two nearby firearms, police said.
The authorities found approximately 120 caps of three different weapons that the shooter used, according to the Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara. O’Hara said Westman had a “fascination” with mass shootings, and Minnesota Joseph Thompson’s lawyer said “I wanted to see children suffer.”
O’Hara said Thursday that the authorities do not have information that indicates that Westman suffered a mental illness and that, apart from a traffic fine, he did not have a police history. But a 2018 very written police report shows that the police was called to a house where Westman lived with his mother. Mental health was observed as the reason for the call.
Minnesota has a red flag law that entered into force in January 2024, allowing family members and others to request the courts to eliminate the weapons of a person who believe that it represents a threat to themselves or for the community. But it does not seem that no alarm has sounded when Westman accumulated an arsenal that included a rifle, a gun and a shotgun used in the attack on the church.
Research on the shooting is ongoing.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or send a text message to 988 to achieve suicide and life of the life line or chat live in 988lifeline.org. You can also visit Speakingofsuicide.com/resources For additional support.
