Authorities reportedly identified the former girlfriend of the transgender Minneapolis Catholic school shooter as 22-year-old Abigail Bodick, who considered herself a “furry.”
A furry is someone who self-identifies as an anthropomorphic animals — characters that have human traits such as walking upright, speaking, or wearing clothes.
The pair had dated for several years before recently breaking up, a split the shooter described in a manifesto as the “root of my suffering,” the New York Post reported Thursday.
“I like feeling sexy and cute, but my face never matches how I feel: I hate my face,” the shooter wrote in a psychologically disturbed manifesto before the deadly mass shooting. “Maybe that’s why I like furries so much.
“You can give yourself a new body and face.”
Bodick, who has been photographed at anime conventions in animal-themed cosplay, was referenced repeatedly in the shooter’s writings under the names “Aby” and “Abbey.” In disturbing passages, the shooter admitted pointing a gun at her head weeks before the attack and described fantasies of violence tied to their relationship.
The 23-year-old shooter opened fire during a back-to-school mass at Annunciation Catholic School last week, killing two children, 8 and 10, and injuring 18 others before taking their own life. Investigators are combing through the writings and online activity for insight into motive, as family members confirmed that only recently had the relationship with Bodick ended.
Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 20, were killed in the massacre, while dozens of others — including parishioners in their 80s — were wounded.
The shooter left behind a widely reported handwritten journal in which he expressed regret over his sex change.
“I only keep [the long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans” the shooter wrote, according to the New York Post’s translation of the manifesto. “I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself.”
The suicidal and homicidal shooter, found dead in the school parking lot from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, wanted to be known as Robin Westman after being born a boy called Robert.
“I can’t cut my hair now as it would be [an] embarrassing defeat, and it might be a concerning change of character that could get me reported,” Westman wrote. “It just always gets in my way. I will probably chop it on the day of the attack.”
In other passages, Westman vacillated on gender identity.
“I don’t want to dress girly all the time but I guess sometimes I really like it,” Westman wrote. “I know I am not a woman but I definitely don’t feel like a man.”
The Post further reported Westman’s writings revealed violent fantasies, including a desire to be “the scary horrible monster standing over those powerless kids,” as well as praise for the Sandy Hook school massacre.
After Vice President JD Vance mourned with area victims in a visit to Minneapolis, the Justice Department is reviewing possible steps to restrict firearms access for individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria, officials familiar with internal discussions told Newsmax exclusively Thursday.
The gender dysphoria condition, recognized in medical literature, describes a deep conflict between a person’s birth sex and their gender identity.
DOJ officials say a recent series of shootings involving individuals reportedly struggling with gender identity has prompted the department to examine whether new safeguards are needed.
A DOJ source told Newsmax that Democrats have long pressed for “common sense” gun control, adding: “This seems pretty common sense to me.”
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