The Minnesota Star Tribune reviewed court and police documents, hundreds of pages of Westman’s writings and reached out to more than 50 former neighbors, classmates, coworkers and family members in an effort to understand her murderous intent.
The evidence suggests someone struggling to find her place in the world. Her home life became less stable after her parents divorced when she was still in elementary school. She bounced between several high schools as a teenager and struggled to navigate relationships and questions of identity as an adult.
But some former neighbors, co-workers and classmates said they saw no hints that Westman could be capable of such rage and senseless violence.
Her father and siblings did not respond to interview requests, and many others in the shooter’s orbit declined to speak to reporters. The morning of the shooting, the Star Tribune reached her mother, Mary. She was crying, and when asked if her child had carried out the shooting, she said: “No, I can’t right now. I can’t.”
The Star Tribune is referring to Westman with she/her pronouns because that is the gender listed on available legal documents.
Robin Westman was the youngest of four children raised by parents Mary and Jim. The family’s early years were spent in a modest house in Maplewood; later they moved to an upscale neighborhood in Hastings.
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