Yearbook Photo Reveals Minnesota Shooter’s Earlier Years

A yearbook photo from Southwest High School captures Robin Westman during his first year as a girl. It has resurfaced, shared by former classmates, showing him as a junior with short, curly brown hair and dressed in a pink blouse.

In that photo, Westman paired the outfit with Dungry earrings, a thick gold necklace, and what looks like a bright pink lip stain. It’s striking how different he appeared in his senior photo the following year—his hair was puffy, and he wore a blue T-shirt dyed orange paired with a purple graduation robe.

This photo was taken in the same year that Westman changed his name from Robert to Robin. During high school, he kept notable diary entries, some of which disturbingly celebrated tragic events, including shootings at a mosque, Sandy Hook Elementary, and a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Before graduating in 2021, Westman spent time at St. Thomas Academy, a Catholic all-boys school, where students were referred to as cadets and trained in military-style uniforms.

He later expressed regret about transitioning, a sentiment he shared in a handwritten diary posted on YouTube prior to the violent episode. “I just keep [the long hair] because it is my last snippet of being a trans. I’m tired of being a trans, I hope I never wash my brain,” he wrote.

Westman criticized his mother for contributing to his feelings of turmoil, referring to her words as part of a struggle that led him to contemplate violence. “Mom, your words kept me in the discomfort that I couldn’t ask for help,” he wrote. It ultimately culminated in the tragic events where he took the lives of two children, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moiskey, while other victims, including a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old, remained hospitalized.