MSNBC host Jen Psaki broke down in tears while addressing the deadly shooting at a Minnesota Catholic church. The former White House Press Secretary appeared visibly sickened by the tragedy, which killed two and injured 17 more at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis as she described the plight of the average student.
'Sorry, this is a tough one,' Psaki said on her MSNBC show, as she described the kids regular worries such as 'just looking for someone to sit with at lunch' or 'getting home safe to their parents.' 'Having your child killed while they are sitting a pew for a morning prayer service is not what any parent should have to worry about.'
Psaki then turned her rage toward American politicians' for their reaction to the shooting. 'I felt a mixture of anger and a lot of emotional exhaustion about this today because we have been her so many times,' she said. 'Yet again, like clockwork, half the politicians in our country have little more to offer than thoughts and prayers, that is all they are offering,' the former spokesperson for Joe Biden said.
She singled out President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance for only telling people to join them in 'thoughts and prayers' for the victims. 'We have seen this play out over and over. There is a shooting, then come the thoughts and prayers and then comes the attempt to shift the focus.' Psaki then suggested media coverage discussing whether the shooter was transgender is such an attempt. 'You're going to start seeing narratives. You're already seeing them. They're already out there about how the shooter was trans,' she said. 'You're going to see narratives about how the shooter appeared to be anti-Trump and antisemitic and clearly was in the midst of a mental health crisis, there's no doubt about that.'
Psaki then pointed out that there were transgender people, mentally ill people and political extremists 'all over the world.' 'This is the only country where shootings like this one happens this often. The United States not only has the highest rate of gun violence of any country in the world; it's become a leading cause of death in children and teenagers.'
Psaki added that 'what matters' is that the shooter was able to purchase the weapon legally. 'We live in a country with more guns than people, where there are not universal background checks, there are not bans on assault weapons and it is far too easy to buy a gun,' she claimed. 'It's the guns everyone; it's not really a secret.'
Two children aged eight and 10 were killed in the attack and at least 17 other victims - 14 children and three adults - were injured at Annunciation Church before Westman took their own life, according to authorities. The shooter has been identified as Robin Westman, formerly known as Robert. Westman was a transgender anti-Trump 23-year-old whose mother worked at the school the shooter attacked. Officials said in a press conference the shooter was armed with three guns - a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. All three weapons were fired during the attack, police said. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said the shooter approached the side of the church and shot through the windows toward the children sitting in the pews.
It is unclear if the shooter fired any of the weapons from inside the church or carried out the entire mass shooting outside before going inside. Police said at least two of the church doors appeared to have been blocked by two by fours before the shooting, suggesting the gunman wanted to trap the people inside. 'This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping,' O'Hara said at a news conference. 'The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.' The students at the Catholic grade school had started school on Monday and were attending mass when the shooter stormed the church, which is connected to the school.
It has since emerged that Westman's mother, Mary, was an employee at the school before she retired in 2021. Just a few years prior, Mary had signed an application for Robin to have her name changed from Robert, according to court records seen by the Daily Mail. The petition cost the family $311 and was ultimately approved in January 2020. It adds that Westman 'identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.'
Yet it seemed Westman still struggled with her gender identity, writing at one point that she doesn't 'want to dress girly all the time but I guess sometimes I really like it. 'I know I am not a woman but I definitely don't feel like a man,' she wrote, adding: 'I really like my outfit. I look pretty, smart and modest. I think I want to wear something like this for my shooting.' Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey denounced transphobia after the revelations about Westman's identity emerged Wednesday afternoon. 'I have heard about a whole lot of hate that is being directed at our trans community,' he said. 'Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity. We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone.' He added: 'We should be operating from a place of love. Kids, kids died today. This needs to be about them.'