Trans-Identified Mass Shooters and Gender-Affirming Care

On the morning of 27 August, Robin Westman entered Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis armed with a pistol, a shotgun, and a revolver. He opened fire during the first Mass of the new school year, killing two young children and wounding many others before turning one of the guns on himself.

While Westman’s political ideology (insofar as he had one) is unknown, one thing we do know is that the killer was a biologically male 23-year-old who identified as transgender. Robert Westman became “Robin Westman” at the age of seventeen—a fact that many media outlets originally chose not to report. In keeping with the taboo against “deadnaming” trans-identified individuals—even murderers—they posthumously honoured Westman’s “gender identity”; and so gave Americans the false impression that the carnage at Annunciation Catholic School had been committed by a woman.

[R]ecent years have witnessed many horrifying crimes committed by trans-identified individuals. Some examples include:

• In 2018, a biologically female drug-store worker named Snochia Mosley shot and killed three co-workers in Aberdeen, Maryland. Friends shared messages with the media indicating that Mosley felt “the world was against her,” and that she’d begun identifying as a transgender male (and discussing hormone treatments) two years earlier.
• The following year, Maya McKinney—a biologically female student who asserted a male gender identity and had begun calling herself “Alec”—opened fire at a Colorado school, killing one and wounding eight, in retaliation for alleged transphobic bullying.
• Last year, a girl identifying as a boy was expelled from Les Paul Middle School in Wisconsin after she was caught plotting a school shooting. A forensic search of her phone revealed chilling queries such as “trans kill hit list.”
• In 2023, “Audrey” Hale, an emotionally disturbed woman who identified as male, killed three children and three staff members at The Covenant School in Nashville. In the months leading up to the attack, Hale wrote in her journal: “My penis exists in my head. I swear to god I’m male.” Other statements included, “So now in America, it makes one a criminal to have a gun or be transgender or non-binary,” “God I hate those sh*thead politicians,” and “I need a trans doctor… This female gender role makes me want to not exist.”

It goes without saying that the fact a killer—or attempted killer—is trans-identified does not necessarily mean his or her transgender identity is connected to his or her criminal motive. But it is alarming to observe how prevalent mentally unwell trans-identified individuals have become in many extremist movements and sects. This includes the Zizians—a self-described “rationalist” cult linked to at least six homicides. Its imprisoned leader, “Ziz” LaSota, is a biological male (originally named Jack Amadeus LaSota) who identifies as a woman. Most of his followers are also trans-identified (as well as autistic), including the late Ophelia Bauckholt, a biologically male German native originally named Felix.