Minnesota Shooter Was 'Obsessed with Killing Children,' Says U.S. Attorney

NEED TO KNOW

• Federal authorities have started to share insight into the investigation of the motive behind Wednesday morning's mass school shooting in Minneapolis

• Officials say the shooter "expressed hate towards almost every group imaginable" and wanted to carry out the mass shooting in order to "obtain notoriety"

• Two children were killed while 18 others — 15 kids and three adults — were injured in the mass shooting, which took place at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis

Federal authorities are revealing details about the mindset of the mass shooter who killed two children and wounded 18 other people at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 27.

Joseph Thompson, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, said at a press conference Thursday afternoon that federal officials are still investigating the motive behind the shooting. But Thompson said authorities are combing through “hundreds of pages of writings” they believe were made by the shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman, which expressed “pure, indiscriminate hate” towards others.

“The shooter expressed hate towards almost every group imaginable,” Thompson told reporters. “The shooter expressed hate towards Black people. The shooter expressed hate towards Mexican people. The shooter expressed hate towards Christian people. The shooter expressed hate towards Jewish people.”

Thompson added: “In short, the shooter appeared to hate all of us. The shooter’s heart was full of hate.”

The U.S. district attorney also said after reviewing the shooter’s alleged writings, investigators believe the shooter was “obsessed with the idea of killing children” and wanted to “kill children, defenseless children.”

“The shooter saw the attack as a way to target our most vulnerable among us while they were at their most vulnerable at school and at church,” Thompson said.

Police said Wednesday that the shooter, whose mother used to work at the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade Catholic school, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the parking lot next to the school church, where the mass shooting took place.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara also spoke out about the shooter’s “very disturbing writings” during Thursday’s press conference.

“This is an individual who, unfortunately like so many other mass shooters that we have seen in this country too often and around the world, had some deranged fascination with previous mass shootings,” O’Hara said, adding that the shooter “fantasized about the plans of other mass shooters” and wanted to carry out a mass shooting in order to “obtain notoriety.”

O’Hara said investigators have recovered “hundreds of pieces of evidence” since the attack.

ABC News has since reported that all of the hospitalized children are expected to survive from their injuries.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey addressed the media at a press conference, calling the shooting "unspeakable."

"There are no words that can capture the horror of this unspeakable act," Frey said. "Children are dead."

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