‘DON’T SAY TRANS’: Nets Avoid Any Mention of MN Shooter or His Motives

Jorge Bonilla
August 28th, 2025 12:18 AM

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In what appears to be a perverse “don’t say transgender challenge”, the legacy newscasts went out of their way to mention that the coward who entered into the Annunciation Catholic Church and opened fire on an ongoing Mass was in fact a transgender individual. The networks were equally circumspect about divulging the shooter’s motives.

The tone was set early on by ABC’s Aaron Katersky, who during live coverage almost made it seem like the shooter was a Trump supporter:

AARON KATERSKY: 23-year-old Robin Westman was able to leave what police called a video manifesto that they're now going through to try and establish motive. We've also been going through it and can tell you there are crude diagrams of the church. There are also photos of the weapons, and they include all sorts of writings, the names of past mass shooters, criticism of Israel, the name of President Trump written on the guns. There are also racial slurs, nihilistic statements, all painting the picture of a disturbed individual who carried out this mass shooting on the first week of school at the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis.

“The name of President Trump on the guns” is not even in the same tonal universe of what the shooter ACTUALLY wrote, which was “Kill Trump.” This deceptive description, paired with descriptions of the shooter as a racist antisemite, seeks to create the illusion of the shooter being a Trump supporter, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

World News Tonight kicked off the transgender obfuscation, as correspondent Pierre Thomas 

PIERRE THOMAS: And police are studying a troubling video Westman allegedly posted on YouTube, timed for release after the horror unfolded inside that church.

BRIAN O'HARA: This manifesto appeared to show him at the scene and included some disturbing writings. 

THOMAS: The video depicts someone obsessed with violence. In one chilling moment, a suspect is seen driving a knife into a sketch of church pews. You also see a suspect handling bullets, magazines, and an arsenal of guns and there are numerous references to previous mass shooters, including Sandy Hook. The fixation on murder clear. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem saying the worlds ‘kill Donald Trump’ were found written on a rifle magazine. Tonight, the community in shock.

MICHELLE WICK: Sorry, I'm shaking. I can't stop. (unint) the shooter is a half-block from where we all live. 

THOMAS: That neighbor trying to make sense of what the killer's family might be thinking tonight.

WICK: I can't imagine not only living with what their son has done, but also that their son is deceased. I'm sure they're questioning as parents what happened here.

THOMAS: We're also learning that Robin Westman was born a male with the name Robert, but in 2020, identified as a female, and a Minnesota court approved his name change to Robin.

If Robert changed his name to Robin, what does that mean? Why the intentional effort to deemphasize the shooter? The same applies for Thomas's descriptions of things depicted in the manifesto. The video manifesto clearly depicts a magazine with "Kill Donald Trump" scrawled on it. Why qualify that with "Kristi Noem said", as if it were hearsay?

CBS wasn't that much better. Scott MacFarlane took a brief respite from whining about the ongoing federal law enforcement operation in Washington, D.C. in order to further obfuscate about the identity of the shooter. 

SCOTT MacFARLANE: And Maurice, as is frequent the case in mass shootings in America, police say this shooter, Robern(SIC) Westman, obtained the guns legally and recently. Three firearms, all of which were fired, according to police. The 23-year-old Westman, who has no criminal record, was a student at Annunciation School. Westman’s mother, as you heard, had been an employee of the school until 2021.

Several years ago, Westman sought a legal change of name from Robert Westman to Robin Westman. The FBI is going through a YouTube video believed to have been posted by Westman, which could speak to the motive for this attack. Investigators are looking for other potential writings, too, and executing search warrants at the home of the shooter and the homes of the shooter's parents. Police have described an elaborate plan by Westman to make the attack today, including the use of 2x4 wooden beams to block and barricade the church door. Westman died by suicide in the back of the church, according to the police, and the police chief in Minneapolis twice today referred to Westman as a coward. 

Over at NBC, Maggie Vespa danced the same dance:

MAGGIE VESPA: According to court documents obtained by NBC News, the shooter was granted a legal name change to Robin in 2020. The documents saying Westman identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect the identification. Her mother appeared to sign the documents. Police say, before carrying out the massacre, Robin Westman posted a series of disturbing videos.

BEN O'HARA: We're also aware of a manifesto that the shooter had timed to be released on YouTube. This manifesto showed him at the scene and included some disturbing writings

VESPA: One video showing a handwritten floor plan of a church and several weapons. On one of them, a message threatening to kill President Trump and many anti-Semitic slogans and references to the Catholic Church. Police say they have not identified a motive, but are studying those videos.

O'HARA: It's been taken down and our investigators are going through that to try and develop a motive from that.

TOM LLAMAS: Maggie joins us now and Maggie, police still don't know a motive but we have late reporting tonight that there is a connection between the shooter and that Catholic church?

VESPA: Yeah, tom that's right. It appears that the shooter's mother used to work here. The Church of Annunciation posting on Facebook back in 2021, congratulating Mary Grace Westman on her retirement, after 5 years here. NBC has reached out to her, as well as other family members of the shooter. So far, no response.

Vespa was less awful than the others, but equally danced around the issue of the shooter's transgenderism and the nature of his writings.

As further details of the manifesto emerge, particularly the portions written in Cyrillic, it will be clear what kind of person this was, and what he intended to accomplish. As for tonight, the legacies were far more interested in saying as little about the shooter as possible, to the detriment of the public.

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