Minneapolis shooting suspect appears to praise gun rights activist Brandon Herrera in video

The suspect in this week’s deadly Minneapolis school shooting appears to have voiced support for a gun rights activist who is running for Congress.

Authorities say 23-year-old Robin Westman opened fire through the windows of the Annunciation Catholic School’s church on Wednesday morning, killing two children and injuring 18 people, including 15 kids, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In a YouTube video that’s believed to be associated with the suspect, the person praises Texas congressional candidate Brandon Herrera, a self-proclaimed Second Amendment absolutist, in a since-deleted video.

The individual claims to have met Herrera last year at SHOT Show, a gun trade show in Las Vegas, and says the two spoke briefly and agreed on many things.

The person, who is speaking off camera while handling ammunition, said that people should vote for the gun rights activist for president.

The individual also named a wide range of companies, falsely claiming that they sponsored the video.

Herrera, who is running in a Republican primary in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, expressed disgust at the video.

“I’m still physically sickened and angry about this clearly hate motivated attack on innocent children, and disgusted that my name came out of this demon’s mouth,” he said Wednesday in a post on X.

Herrera further addressed his shock on hearing his name mentioned several times in the video in a message posted on his YouTube channel on Thursday.

“When I first found out about this, I did not want to believe that it was real. And then I listened to the video, and when I heard it with my own two ears, I got f—— sick to my stomach,” he said in the video. “I’m gonna go ahead and say it now, and I would like to think this goes without saying, but again, I want to leave zero f—— wiggle room for interpretation. I condemn every part of this to the deepest extent of my f—— soul. It is unreal to think about this level of evil, being carried out by somebody who even knows my f—— name.”

Herrera said he doesn’t recall meeting the suspect, as the person claimed in the video, and that his friends also did not recall any meeting between them.

“God’s honest truth, I have no memory of this person,” he said, but added he doesn’t believe “for a moment” there’s a lot he and Westman would agree on.

Mark Oliva, a spokesperson for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which operates SHOT Show, said he was aware of the apparent claim by the shooting suspect about attending last year’s expo.

“NSSF has verified that the murderer’s name is not among any of the attendees at SHOT Show in 2024, or any year prior,” Oliva said in a statement. “Only those registered are allowed entry into SHOT Show and the trade show is not open to the public.”

Herrera said in his video Thursday that this is the last time he will be addressing the shooting suspect, and he wants to turn his attention to helping the victims.

“I’m working with some people in law enforcement right now, at time of recording, to figure out the best places that we can help support these communities, to where the help and the funds that we send them actually go to the places they need to go,” he said.

The suspect’s video mentioning Herrera is one of two posted Wednesday morning that are being investigated, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the matter.

The videos, which have since been removed by YouTube, show someone flipping through dozens of pages of notes dated over the course of several months, which include what appear to be doodles of weapons, middle fingers and expletives, as well as repeated references to killing.

Writings in notebooks and on the guns indicate a series of grievances, anger and ideations of harm to self and to others. The writings also appear to show overt references to other high-profile school shootings and shooters. An array of firearms and ammunition is also displayed on a bed.

YouTube did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Officers recovered three guns — one rifle, one shotgun and one handgun — at the scene, all of which are believed to have been fired in the attack, police said. All of the guns were purchased legally by Westman, police said, and authorities believe they were purchased recently in Minnesota.

Investigators are reviewing hundreds of pages of documents, videos and other evidence as they look for a specific motive, police said. Though authorities noted the suspect expressed widespread hatred and wanted to target defenseless children in particular.

“What we have seen so far is 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 and very disturbing writings that demonstrate hatred towards many different individuals and different groups of people. And he fantasized about the plans of other mass shooters,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a press briefing Thursday.

Joseph Thompson, the acting United States attorney for the District of Minnesota, said hundreds of pages of writings by the suspect “describe the shooter’s hate — pure, indiscriminate hate.”

“The shooter expressed hate towards almost every group imaginable,” including Christian, Jewish, Mexican and Black people, he said. The shooter also “expressed hate” toward President Donald Trump, he said.

“In short, the shooter appeared to hate all of us. The shooter’s heart was full of hate,” Thompson said. “There appears to be only one group that the shooter didn’t hate. One group of people who the shooter admired. That group were the school shooters and mass murderers that are notorious in this country.”

“More than anything, the shooter wanted to kill children, defenseless children,” he added. “The shooter wanted to watch children suffer.”