Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah was identified as the instructor killed by the terrorist shooter who opened fire at Old Dominion University in Virginia on Thursday.
Shah was fatally shot by terrorist Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former National Guard soldier who was previously convicted of supporting ISIS, according to multiple reports. Jalloh, who is a naturalized American citizen from Sierra Leone, stormed a classroom and asked if it was an ROTC class, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/12/us-news/old-dominion-university-gunman-idd-as-former-national-guardsman-convicted-of-plotting-attack-to-support-islamic-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the New York Post.
After someone confirmed that it was an ROTC course, Jalloh shot the professor several times, the news outlet reported.
Shah was a decorated military hero who served the United States in major war zones.
Shah enlisted in the Army in 2003 as an Aviation Operations Specialist and later obtained the rank of sergeant, <a href="https://www.odu.edu/armyrotc/about/cadre/professor-chair" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the university. During his time enlisted, Shah served in the active-duty Army, Army Reserve, and Virginia Army National Guard.
He also deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and a rotation to Atlantic Resolve.
Since his Old Dominion commissioning, Shah earned his Army Aviation Senior Aviator wings after flying more than 1,200 hours in three different aircraft and completing over 600 combat flight hours, according to the school.
Shah last served as the Brigade S3 in the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Georgia. Before that, he served as the Squadron S3 in the 3-17 Air Cavalry Squadron overseeing modernization efforts for attack helicopters.
The university described Shah as &#8220;an advocate for minority and veteran business education and involvement&#8221; who &#8220;holds a variety of accolades including combat heroism awards and diversity and inclusion honors.&#8221;
&#8220;Brandon also volunteers his time to support the less fortunate,&#8221; his university profile reads.
His awards include the Senior Army Aviator Badge, Combat Action Badge, Parachutist Badge, and Air Assault Badge. He also received the Bronze Star (2 awards), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (2 awards), Air Medal with Valor, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal (3 awards), Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal (2 awards), and numerous campaign and unit awards.
Nearly a decade ago, Jalloh, 36, discussed plans to carry out a Fort Hood-style attack while communicating with a person he believed was an ISIS terrorist who was actually a government informant, <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/ex-national-guard-member-from-virginia-sentenced-to-11-years-for-terrorism-after-supporting-isis/35484/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to NBC4 Washington. Jalloh was sentenced to 11 years behind bars for providing material support to a terrorist organization and an additional five years of supervised release.
He was released early in December 2024, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/12/us-news/old-dominion-university-gunman-idd-as-former-national-guardsman-convicted-of-plotting-attack-to-support-islamic-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the New York Post.
Jalloh was killed by &#8220;a group of brave students who stepped in and subdued him,&#8221; FBI Director Kash Patel said Thursday.
Shah died at the hospital, the New York Post reported. Two others were wounded in the shooting. The injured victims were later identified as &#8220;Army personnel,&#8221; Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said.
Hours before the university shooting, an attacker rammed a vehicle into a Michigan synagogue before opening fire on the building. No one was killed in the earlier attack.

Untitled design – 2026-03-12T193357.724

Decorated Military Hero ID’d As Victim Of Old Dominion Terrorist Attack

School Shooting

Terrorism

terrorist attack

U.S.

Virginia

The gunman who opened fire at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, on Thursday has been identified as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former National Guard soldier who was previously convicted of supporting ISIS, according to multiple reports.
Jalloh, 36, discussed plans to carry out a Fort Hood-style attack with a government informant he believed was an ISIS terrorist, <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/ex-national-guard-member-from-virginia-sentenced-to-11-years-for-terrorism-after-supporting-isis/35484/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to NBC4 Washington. Jalloh was sentenced to 11 years behind bars and an additional five years of supervised release.
He was let out early in December 2024, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/12/us-news/old-dominion-university-gunman-idd-as-former-national-guardsman-convicted-of-plotting-attack-to-support-islamic-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the New York Post.
Jalloh traveled to Africa with his father in 2015, where he met with an ISIS recruiter, according to NBC4. That same year, he went to Sierra Leone to stay with the group&#8217;s facilitator and planned to go to Libya to join the terrorist organization, but that never happened.
At one point, he ventured to Niger to join ISIS and even boarded a truck full of other terror recruits, but bailed out after 18 hours, according to NBC4.
Jalloh praised the gunman who killed five soldiers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in July 2015, to the informant, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-army-national-guard-member-arrested-attempting-provide-material-support-isil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Department of Justice. He also sent $500 to a man he believed was an ISIS member, who was actually an undercover FBI agent.
He pleaded guilty in October 2015 to attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
Jalloh, who is a naturalized American citizen from Sierra Leone, stormed into a classroom on Thursday and asked if it was an ROTC course, according to the New York Post. When someone confirmed that it was, he opened fire, shooting the professor several times.
The professor, a retired military officer, died at the hospital, according to the news outlet. One of the students heroically stabbed Jalloh to death to stop him from harming others.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed on X that one person is dead and two others were wounded in the shooting.
The shooter, he <a href="https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/2032183663350214858">said</a>, &#8220;is now deceased thanks to a group of brave students who stepped in and subdued him – actions that undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement.&#8221;
&#8220;The FBI is now investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism. Our Joint Terrorism Task Force is fully engaged, embedded with local authorities, and providing all resources necessary in the investigation,&#8221; Patel said.
Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll <a href="https://x.com/SecArmy/status/2032170679404024043" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the injured victims were &#8220;Army personnel.&#8221;
The shooting occurred hours before an attacker rammed a vehicle into a Michigan synagogue and opened fire on the building.

Screenshot 2026-03-12 at 3.57.15 PM

Old Dominion University Gunman Identified As Ex-National Guardsman Turned ISIS Operative

College

ISIS

Shooting

Societies that tend to mainstream delusions and treat them as though they are normal, especially mental illnesses that have an extraordinarily high crossover with suicidality and depression, are not doing anybody any favors.
It is very difficult to deny that we are now seeing an emerging trend in mass shootings from trans shooters. This was not an issue 15 years ago. Derangement took other forms.
That has obviously changed, and the media and governmental policy have a lot to do with it.
It is now being reported that the Canada school shooter in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, is a person who identified as trans. This has become an alarming pattern: people identifying as trans and engaging in acts of violence. It is not totally surprising, given that people who identify as trans have a very, very high rate of suicidality and depression.
The media continue to treat this as though it’s of no consequence. They&#8217;re referring to the prospective shooter in Tumbler Ridge as a “she,” even though it’s pretty clear it’s a biological “he.” This goes to our entire society&#8217;s willingness to say things that are biologically false, supposedly in pursuit of sympathy for people who are suffering from a mental disorder.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2366-tape-emerges-in-nancy-guthrie-kidnapping?elementPosition=6&amp;row=6&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Over the course of the last couple of weeks, major medical groups have now come out and completely reversed themselves regarding “gender-affirming” care. For years, it was de rigueur in the medical community to proclaim that hormone treatments, social transition, or actual surgery were the solutions for people suffering from gender dysphoria, particularly minors. The idea was that if you didn&#8217;t arrest puberty when a kid was 11 years old, that person would look more like their biological sex than they otherwise would.
Now, after a few lawsuits, it turns out that the science doesn&#8217;t reflect any of this.
“I would say that when gender clinicians and their allies are speaking to the public, in particular to the skeptical public, lawmakers and legislative hearings, to news reporters and mainstream media outlets, and even to parents who kind of have concerns about their kids and want to know what to do, then, yes, they frame these interventions as a mental health intervention,” Leor Sapir of the Manhattan Institute told me. “They make claims about reduction in depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and so forth. When they talk amongst themselves, and you can see this when you look at their videos from conferences, when you watch video calls that were somehow leaked to the public, you see that they actually offer different rationales. They say that this is about helping kids or helping people in general who are otherwise healthy achieve their embodiment goals, achieve their cosmetic goals for how they want their body to look in light of their internal sense of gender.”
We are not doing anyone any favors when we ignore the mainstreaming of mental illness.

Canada Lowers Flags To Half Staff After Mass Shooting In British Columbia

Crisis Of Reality: Mental Health, Media, And The Transgender Movement

Ben Shapiro

Canada

Gender

Mental Illness

Opinion

Suicide

Teenagers

Transgender

The 18-year-old man who attacked a rural Canadian school identified as a woman and had a history of mental illness, law enforcement confirmed Wednesday. 
Police identified the man who opened fire on Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia, killing six people, as Jesse Van Rootselaar. Van Rootselaar, who was found dead at the school, began to “transition” about six years ago, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said.
“I will say this, we identify the suspect as they chose to be identified in public and on social media,” he said. “I can say that Jesse was born as a biological male who approximately six years ago began to transition to female and identified as female, both socially and publicly.”
McDonald used female pronouns for the attacker despite the fact that he was a male and repeatedly called him &#8220;female&#8221; throughout a Wednesday press conference. 
Two people, identified as Van Rootselaar’s mother and brother, were found dead at a nearby residence the day of the shooting. McDonald said that police had seized guns from the residence in previous years. Canadian outlets have <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/tumbler-ridge-shooter-identified-ctv-news-confirms-live-updates-here/">identified</a> the mother and brother as Jennifer and Emmett Strang, respectively. 
He also said that police had visited the residence multiple times, dealing with “concerns of mental health” with regard to the shooter. He said the shooter had been detained in the past because of mental health concerns. 
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, investigators refused to release the name and sex of the attacker. The first alert described the attacker as a woman wearing a dress, and they later referred to him as a “gunperson.” 
Speculation began circulating that a YouTube page called “JessJessUwU” was run by the shooter. The page featured an anime figure and a rifle with colors associated with the pink, purple, and blue transgender flag in the background, according to screenshots <a href="https://www.junonews.com/p/exclusive-family-confirms-identity">captured</a> by conservative publisher Juno News. 
After the reports started linking the shooting to the account, it was removed. The YouTube channel’s owner showcased “she/her” pronouns in the biography section. 
“Following this horrific incident, our Trust and Safety teams identified and removed a YouTube channel associated with the alleged suspect in accordance with our Creator Responsibility Guidelines,” YouTube told The Daily Wire. 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1042597" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-11-at-1.00.27-PM.png" alt="" width="993" height="519" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-11-at-1.00.27-PM.png 993w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-11-at-1.00.27-PM-300x157.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-11-at-1.00.27-PM-768x401.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 993px) 100vw, 993px" /></div>
The lone post on the channel was an anime illustration of a person smoking, captioned “I’ve been pretty, um, aimless.” 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1042599" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-11-at-1.00.44-PM.png" alt="" width="1027" height="500" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-11-at-1.00.44-PM.png 1027w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-11-at-1.00.44-PM-300x146.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-11-at-1.00.44-PM-1024x499.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-11-at-1.00.44-PM-768x374.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1027px) 100vw, 1027px" /></div>
A police alert issued immediately after the shooting said the suspect was wearing a dress, and called them a &#8220;gunperson,&#8221; as opposed to a gunman, since the shooter identified as &#8220;nonbinary.&#8221;
The YouTube channel account number was “@jessjess347” which was similar to a Reddit account “jesseboy347” that was also removed. Reddit has not responded to requests for comment. 
The victims at the school included a 39-year-old teacher and five children between the ages of 12 and 13.

MixCollage-11-Feb-2026-01-06-PM-4518

Deadly Canada School Attacker Was Trans Identifying Man, Police Confirm

A Tennessee court has overturned a judge’s decision to block the release of writings by the transgender-identifying woman who killed three children and three adults during an attack on a Christian school in Nashville in March 2023.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals <a href="https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/OpinionsPDFVersion/Majority%20Opinion%20-%20%20M2024-01139-COA-R3-CV.pdf">said</a> Wednesday that the city of Nashville must allow inspection of the writings of The Covenant School attacker under public record laws. In August 2024, Davidson County Judge I’Ashea Myles <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/conservative-publisher-appeals-decision-to-block-release-of-covenant-attackers-writings?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Conservative+Publisher+Appeals+Decision+To+Block+Release+Of+Covenant+Attacker%E2%80%99s+Writings">ruled</a> that copyright claims put on the writings preempted public records requests.
“Construing the [Tennessee Public Records Act] broadly to promote access to public records, as we are required, we conclude that under these particular circumstances, the only overt action Metro must take to meet its obligation is to allow Petitioners access to the records for personal inspection,” the judges wrote. “Simply put, so long as Metro maintains the records, it must allow Petitioners access … for personal inspection.”
The writings of the shooter include journal entries made in the months leading up to the March 27, 2023, attack. After the attack, the Nashville Police Department refused to release the writings, citing an ongoing investigation. A group of parents whose children attended The Covenant School also intervened to block the release of the writings, citing a copyright claim to the materials granted by the attacker’s parents.
The parents and the school also said that releasing the attacker’s writings would cause school safety concerns, a position that Myles agreed with in her ruling.
“This conclusion strains credulity, and we are neither willing nor able to make the blind logical leap the Covenant Intervenors ask of us,” the appeals court said, noting that many of the writings were made years before the attack.
The judges also said that there was no school shooter manifesto exemption to public records law because of fears about the writings inspiring future attacks.
“Respectfully, this argument is rooted in speculation about potential future events, not facts present in the record before us. This is a policy debate not contemplated by, or anywhere mentioned in” public records law, the judges said.
The parties who sued for access to the writings included Tennessee Star publisher Michael Patrick Leahy, the Tennessee Firearms Association, The Tennessean, and the National Police Association. Leahy was represented by the America First Legal Foundation.
“This unanimous ruling by the Tennessee Court of Appeals is a major victory for freedom of the press, the people of the State of Tennessee, and The Tennessee Star,” Leahy <a href="https://tennesseestar.com/covenant-school-shooting/court-of-appeals-gives-the-tennessee-star-major-victory-in-covenant-manifesto-case/tpappert/2026/02/04/">said</a> of the ruling. “It is in the public interest for all of these documents to be released to us expeditiously, as the Court of Appeals ruled.”
Despite these efforts, portions of the shooter’s writings have already been released through the FBI and through media reports, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/covenant-journal-revealed-my-imaginary-penis?author=Brent+Scher&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=COVENANT+JOURNAL+REVEALED%3A+Shooter+Said+Being+Female+Was+A+‘F***ing+Curse%2C’+That+She’d+‘Kill’+To+Have+Had+Puberty+Blockers">including</a> The Daily Wire. Ramblings of the shooter posted by the FBI in December 2025 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-covenant-school-killer-hated-religion-and-white-people-fbi-files-reveal?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Covenant+School+Killer+Hated+‘Religion’+And+‘White+People%2C’+FBI+Files+Reveal">revealed</a> that she hated white people and religion.

3 children, 3 teachers fatally shot in US city of Nashville school shooting

Court Says Nashville Cannot Block Access To Covenant Shooter’s Writings

Courts

Nashville

Tennessee

The Covenant School

Twelve-year-old Sophia Forchas, one of the victims of the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis in August, made her triumphant return home after what her family called a “miraculous” recovery.
The Annunciation Catholic School student was shot in the temple and had to be placed in a medically induced coma and have part of her skull removed, per <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/sophia-forchas-annunciation-shooting-released-from-hospital/">CBS News</a>. Her parents credit her incredible recovery to the power of faith and prayer, plus the determination of her medical team.
Sophia was in critical condition when she arrived at the hospital. “It’s only been two months or so since this terrible event,” Dr. Walt Galicich, a neurosurgeon with Hennepin Healthcare, said of Forchas’ recovery. “And to see her walking around wanting to go home and go back to school is pretty amazing.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Sophia Forchas out of hospital nearly 2 months after Annunciation shooting" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XnGou7b5LX8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Your prayers have been powerful,” the Forchas family <a href="https://hennepinhealthcare.org/articles/statement-family-sophia-forchas-0">statement</a> read. “Sophia surviving this horrific attack is a miracle. Her healing progress is nothing short of miraculous; an undeniable testament to the mercy and intervention of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each day we uncover new revelations of moments and circumstances that kept her alive and made her recovery possible. There are simply too many to be dismissed as coincidence. God has heard our prayers and wrapped Sophia in His healing embrace.”
“It is by God&#8217;s will that she has come this far. We are eternally grateful to our loving Father, who hears and answers prayers,” the statement added.
On August 27, a trans-identifying gunman named Robin Westman was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-of-minnesota-shooters-writings-uncovered-gender-and-weed-fed-up-my-head?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=More+Of+Minnesota+Shooter%E2%80%99s+Writings+Uncovered%3A+%E2%80%98Gender+And+Weed+F***ed+Up+My+Head%E2%80%99">identified as the shooter</a>. 
Westman, 23, targeted the church at Annunciation Catholic School, firing through the church’s windows from a parking lot while students from the school attended Mass. Westman killed two students, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski, and <a href="https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/more-victims-identified-in-annunciation-church-shooting/">wounded</a> 27 others. The shooter died after turning his gun on himself.
The gunman left behind numerous writings, videos, and other communications that include deeply troubling and hateful thoughts and intentions. Westman directed strong feelings at Christians, Jews, and President Donald Trump, but also at himself and his transgender identity. He also blamed marijuana, saying it “f***ed up my head.”

Sophia Forchas

12-Year-Old Annunciation Shooting Victim Returns Home After ‘Miraculous’ Recovery

12-Year-Old Annunciation Shooting Victim Returns Home After 'Miraculous' Recovery

Annunciation Catholic School

Minneapolis

News

White House Deputy Assistant Sebastian Gorka got into a heated spat with CNN anchor Brianna Keilar on Sunday&#8217;s broadcast of &#8220;State of the Union,&#8221; telling her that he did not trust her network to provide accurate information.
The two were discussing the tragic school shooting that took place at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis several days prior, and Keilar accused him of &#8220;missing the bigger picture&#8221; when he focused on the fact that the shooter was a trans-identifying man.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
“We can&#8217;t stick with your facts because they&#8217;re not accurate.”<a href="https://twitter.com/brikeilarcnn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@brikeilarcnn</a> spars with <a href="https://twitter.com/SebGorka?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SebGorka</a> over the Trump administration’s false claims about the prevalence of mass shootings committed by transgender people. <a href="https://t.co/di0OjEA9hL">pic.twitter.com/di0OjEA9hL</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/1962144962528624898?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;You know, 96% of attackers — when you’re looking at the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, looking at 172 mass attacks in the US between 2016 and 2020 — 96% were non-trans men. So I know you’re focusing on this shooter being trans,&#8221; Keilar said. &#8220;The shooter was trans — and that is certainly of note. But are you missing the bigger picture here when you zero in on that instead of more broadly these school shooters as an epidemic and you perhaps miss the through line that connects them all?&#8221;
Gorka pushed back, arguing that the data set Keilar was pulling from included gang violence and other shootings that did not appear to be ideologically motivated at all.
&#8220;Well, no, because your facts obfuscate two things. You are using data based upon the predominant gun violence – which is gang-on-gang violence with zero ideological content. If you remove all of that, the gang violence on the streets of Chicago, LA, Detroit, then you come down to a much smaller data set,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So it’s like those who say, you know, gun violence in America causes so many deaths, and then fail to note that the majority of the stats they are using refer to also suicides by gun — which, of course, is not what we are talking about here today. So let’s concentrate on mass shootings at schools — specifically Christian or Catholic schools. Then the data set is wholly different.&#8221;
&#8220;So don’t conflate different data sets just to make a political point. There was an ideological content to this attack. That’s what terrorism is. It’s not because somebody didn’t get the drug deal they wanted. It is an ideological message,&#8221; he continued.
Keilar narrowed her data down to just school shootings and said that by her count, only three of the last 32 school shooters had identified as trans — but Gorka was not convinced.
&#8220;Yeah, forgive me if I don’t go with CNN stats, OK? CNN has proven itself to be wholly inaccurate in all kinds of things for the last 10 years — perpetrators of the Russia hoax, and that we didn’t have an open border. So please forgive me if I didn’t take your stats for granted,&#8221; he shot back.
Keilar pushed again: &#8220;It’s simple math.&#8221;
&#8220;No, it’s not, it’s distortions! You are distorting the facts!&#8221; he protested. &#8220;Let me be clear. In just a couple of years, we have seen seven mass shootings involving people of transgender nature, or who are confused in their gender, seven in just the last couple of years! …I’m going to stick with the facts and not CNN’s pseudo facts.&#8221;
Keilar contested that as well, claiming that of the seven Gorka mentioned, at least one had &#8220;used anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.&#8221;
Gorka went on to say that he was most concerned with how often school shooters are &#8220;known&#8221; to law enforcement and whether or not potential red flags and warning signs are being ignored.

Hassett Says Trade Deals Could Happen This Week, Praises India

Seb Gorka Squares Off With CNN Anchor Over School Shooter’s Trans Identity

Seb Gorka Squares Off With CNN Anchor Over School Shooter's Trans Identity

Brianna Keilar

Media

Politics

One MSNBC guest claimed on Saturday that calls for prayer after the tragic school shooting that unfolded just days earlier were &#8220;a form of idolatry&#8221; and &#8220;theological malpractice,&#8221; arguing that unless people were also willing to go after gun manufacturers, their prayers meant nothing.
Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones, a Democrat, joined MSNBC host Ali Velshi to discuss the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, MN — and he blamed Republican lawmakers and guns for the tragic shooting.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Jones: I want to bring theology into this because you have all these people want to give thoughts and prayers. But I was a minister, and that is a form of theological malpractice—when you pray for something you have the power to change. <a href="https://t.co/yx1BAjeTTc">pic.twitter.com/yx1BAjeTTc</a>
— Acyn (@Acyn) <a href="https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1961893873925640296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After a brief discussion about the potential role played by violent video games, Velshi pivoted to blame the guns. &#8220;There are people who play video games all over the world, and nobody has the problem the way we have it in the United States. So it might actually be about the guns.&#8221;
&#8220;I mean, that’s exactly it. And, you know, I want to take it a step further and say that — I want to bring theology into this because you have all these people who want to give thoughts and prayers after a shooting, but I was a minister and that is a form of theological malpractice,&#8221; Jones cut straight to the point. &#8220;When you pray for something that you have the power to change — there’s an African proverb that says, when you pray, you move your hands and feet. You know, what we’re seeing is a form of idolatry, where we’re willing to worship the lives of our children to appease the prophets of the gun industry.&#8221;
Jones went on to attack Republicans over a Tennessee law, saying, &#8220;After the mass shooting at the Covenant School, the only law Republicans passed that year was to protect gun manufacturers from litigation. That’s what they did after children were killed in a school. It is cruel, it is shameful, it’s immoral, and it is something that is going to be a dark stain on American history, that we’ve allowed this to go on for so long unchallenged. And we have the power to change things.&#8221;
&#8220;And I would say to my colleagues who serve in government bodies, that we —Keep your thoughts and prayers, keep your tweets,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;If you wanna address gun violence, you don’t need a tweet, what you need is a mirror. You have the power to change things. You have the power to take action. Now is the time, until it’s your child, because sooner or later it’s gonna hit home. And then it’ll be too late.&#8221;
Other Democrats — from former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki to Minneapolis Mayor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-mayor-trashes-people-for-offering-thoughts-and-prayers-after-shooting">Jacob Frey</a> — took a similar tone after the shooting, arguing that calls for prayer were empty without gun control measures.
Press Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/karoline-leavitt-destroys-jen-psaki-for-mocking-the-power-of-prayer">Karoline Leavitt</a> pushed back, saying that such criticisms were demeaning to the millions of Americans who believe in the power of prayer — and a number pointed out that Republicans have proposed solutions to gun violence that would make schools harder targets, but that Democrats have repeatedly made it clear they will not consider such ideas.

Justin Jones

MSNBC Guest Says It’s ‘Theological Malpractice’ To Pray In The Wake Of School Shooting

MSNBC Guest Says It's 'Idolatry,' 'Theological Malpractice' To Pray In The Wake Of School Shooting

Democrat

MSNBC

Following the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gavin-newsom-mocks-prayer-after-catholic-school-shooting?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Gavin+Newsom+Mocks+Prayer+After+Catholic+School+Shooting">deadly shooting</a> at Annunciation Catholic Church by a transgender-identifying 23-year-old, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed rabid gun control calls and focused on the &#8220;health crisis&#8221; behind mass shootings.
&#8220;I certainly consider mass shootings a health crisis,&#8221; Kennedy <a href="https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1961159049866846589">said</a> on Thursday. &#8220;And we are doing, for the first time, real studies on what the ideology of that is, and we&#8217;re looking, for the first time, at psychiatric drugs.&#8221;
&#8220;People have had guns in this country forever,&#8221; the secretary continued. &#8220;When I was a kid, we had shooting clubs at our school. Kids, my classmates, and other people would bring a .22 rifle with their guns to school and park in the parking lot. Nobody was shooting up schools.&#8221;
&#8220;There&#8217;s never been a time in the history of humanity where people walked into a crowd, or a church, or a movie theater, or a school, or a crowd of strangers and just started randomly shooting,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s happening in our country, it&#8217;s not happening around the world. And there are many other countries that have comparable levels [of] guns that we have in this country &#8212; we had comparable levels in the &#8217;40s, &#8217;50s, and &#8217;60s and people weren&#8217;t doing that. Something changed, and it dramatically changed human behavior.&#8221;
&#8220;One of the culprits we need to examine is the fact that we&#8217;re the most overmedicated nation in the world, and a lot of those are psychiatric drugs that have blackbox warnings on them that warn of suicidal and homicidal ideation,&#8221; Kennedy added. &#8220;We are doing those studies right now for the first time, and we will have an answer.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨 JUST IN: RFK Jr. launched a FULL INVESTIGATION into the meds the trans Minneapolis shooter was using
“There’s never been a time in America… where people walk into a crowd or a church or a movie theater or a school and just start randomly shooting.”
“SOMETHING changed, and… <a href="https://t.co/GSSPMfhTpr">pic.twitter.com/GSSPMfhTpr</a>
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) <a href="https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1961159049866846589?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
Kennedy has previously noted that HHS will look into the effects of psychiatric drugs and how they are being prescribed. Back in February, the secretary listed SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) and other psychiatric drugs as a potential contributor to our national health crisis.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“Whatever belief or suspicion I have expressed in the past, I’m willing to subject them all to the scrutiny of unbiased science,&#8221; RFK said at the time. “That is gonna be our template: unbiased science.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
HHS Secretary RFK Jr. pledges “NOTHING is gonna be off limits” in chronic disease investigation
“The childhood vaccine schedule, electromagnetic radiation, glyphosate, other pesticides, ultra processed foods, artificial food additives, SSRI and other psychiatric drugs, PFAs,… <a href="https://t.co/kWV2LHuqTG">pic.twitter.com/kWV2LHuqTG</a>
— Holden Culotta (@Holden_Culotta) <a href="https://twitter.com/Holden_Culotta/status/1891888695185375248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
The use of SSRI drugs among teenagers and adults in the U.S. has increased by almost 400% from the early 1990s to 2006, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrats-enter-panic-mode-as-rfk-sets-out-to-make-america-healthy-again">The Daily Wire</a> previously noted. By 2014, one in ten adults had an SSRI prescription, before there was another 35% increase from 2015 to 2021, totaling tens of millions of prescriptions.
Still, the number of Americans suffering from depression has continued to spike. “The percentage of U.S. adults who report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime reached 29.0%, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2015,&#8221; a 2023 Gallup poll found.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-research-finds-antidepressants-may-cause-emotional-blunting">New Research Finds Antidepressants May Cause ‘Emotional Blunting’</a>

RFK Jr.

RFK Jr Dismisses Gun Control Calls, Will Examine Psych Drugs In Mass Shooting ‘Health Crisis’

Health

Mass Shooting

Prescription Drugs

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

A trans-identifying gunman who shot up a Catholic school’s church this week blamed transgenderism, weed, and his mother’s disapproval for his mental illness, according to newly uncovered writings.
Robin Westman, who legally changed his name from Robert in 2020 after he began identifying as female, said the way his mother handled his transgender identity made him want to kill people, according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/29/us-news/minneapolis-gunman-robin-westman-blamed-massacre-on-mom-warning-him-not-to-change-gender-and-discouraged-people-from-letting-their-kids-transition/">New York Post</a>, which translated Westman’s writings from a mixture of Cyrillic characters and English phonetic words. Westman wrote about his transgender identity, weed use, and his mother in a journal entry dated July 1.
“Your words, mother, made me stay in my discomfort unable to ask for help to avoid admitting defeat. You were right mama, but the way you handled it led me to wanting to kill so so many people,” Westman wrote.
“When I was first out to my mother, she was VERY antagonistic. She really made me hate myself and think I will never be good enough,” he wrote. “I remember one day, she said something like, ‘In the future you will look back and feel ridiculous about who you feel like you are inside. You will regret this.’&#8221;
“Well guess what mom?! I regret being born,” he said.
He blamed transgenderism and constant weed use for severe mental illness, and he expressed regret for his adoption of both.
“Gender and weed f***ed up my head,” Westman wrote. “I wish I never tried experimenting with either. Don’t let your kids smoke weed or change gender until they are like seventeen.”
Westman, 23, targeted the church at Annunciation Catholic School on Wednesday morning, firing through the church’s windows from a parking lot while students from the school attended mass. Westman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bright-joyful-and-deeply-loved-parents-mourn-children-killed-in-catholic-school-attack">killed</a> two students, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski, and wounded 18 others. The shooter died after turning his gun on himself.
The gunman left behind numerous writings, videos, and other communications that include deeply troubling and hateful thoughts and intentions. Westman directed strong feelings at Christians, Jews, and President Donald Trump, but also at himself and his transgender identity.
“I only keep [long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself,” Westman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wish-i-never-brain-washed-myself-minnesota-school-shooter-said-he-was-tired-of-being-trans">wrote</a>.
“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,” he added. “It just always gets in my way. I will probably chop it on the day of the attack.”
Westman changed his name from Robert to Robin in 2020 at the age of 17. His mother, Mary Grace Westman, signed the official papers.

Annunciation Catholic Church

More Of Minnesota Shooter’s Writings Uncovered: ‘Gender And Weed F***ed Up My Head’

Crime

Minnesota

It is becoming clearer and clearer that we have an institutional problem in this country.
Not every crime in a country of 340 million people indicates an institutional problem. Sometimes you just have one-offs; sometimes you just have people who do things that are crazy or terrible, and there&#8217;s really no way of preventing or minimizing that particular crime.
But the Annunciation Catholic School shooting is not one of those cases, because what we are looking at here is symptomatic of a broader ideological ill that has afflicted our state institutions and our medical institutions and has massive downstream effects.
Those downstream effects aren&#8217;t always school shootings. In fact, only on rare occasions are they school shootings, but the effects are harming literally thousands of children across our country. 
There&#8217;s a bizarre transmission effect that happens when the media grants enormous attention to evil, mentally ill people who go and shoot a bunch of schoolchildren. But one of the factors here is that the transgender shooter, a biological male named Robert, who then legally changed it to Robin, confessed he was “tired of being trans” and wished he had “never brainwashed himself.”
“I&#8217;m tired of being trans,” he wrote. “I wish I never brainwashed myself. I can&#8217;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. It just always gets in my way. I&#8217;ll probably drop it on the day of the attack.”
He was afraid that cutting his hair would show a red flag to the authorities, who might have said there&#8217;s something wrong. He felt that if he decided to detransition, the Minnesota authorities might take a second look at him.
But in the state of Minnesota, there was nothing wrong with a boy saying that he was a girl and his parents signing off on forms to transition him.
This was a person who was clearly suffering from gender identity disorder and was not satisfied with the solutions provided by the trans fake medical community. We&#8217;ve been told by that fake medical community that the only way to prevent terrible things from happening to and from people who identify as trans, is to pretend along with them that they are members of the opposite sex and that we are supposed to socially shame people who “detransition.”
If you listen to the media, the shooter was a woman. The headline from the New York Times — which was totally insane — read “Minneapolis suspect knew her target, but motive is a mystery.”
The amount of Orwellian doublespeak here is insane. Respect the killer’s preferred pronouns, but pretend that the “motive is a mystery.”
We know exactly what the motive was, because it is spelled out in all of the journals and the YouTube videos and on the guns themselves.
This is not a gigantic “mystery wrapped in an enigma.” This is the media trying to cover up the reality of the situation in which a mentally ill person was not given proper treatment and was told that his delusions were a reflection of the evil patriarchy and a terrible traditional society.
A person whose parents were told by medical and state institutions that the most important thing they could do to minimize the threat to their child and to others was to pretend along with him that he was a woman. A person who was told that any sort of corrective activity designed to alleviate gender identity disorder by saying, “No, actually, you are a boy and we need to deal with that in a rational, psychologically tested way,” was wrong.
Instead of doing that, they decided to play along.
And the consequences were murder.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2270-how-state-and-medical-institutions-promoted-the-trans-church-shooting?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
This implicates our institutions. It implicates our schools. It implicates our medical institutions. It implicates state legislatures.
The American Medical Association has been promoting exactly the kind of fake medicine that leads to the abandonment of people who are truly psychologically suffering. That fake medicine which masquerades as empathy is not, in fact, medicine.
It is, in fact, an ideologically-driven crusade to pretend that men and women are identical and can switch bodies at will.
And it is a lie.
If you wonder why trust has been completely undermined in “science,” it&#8217;s because the ideological Left infiltrated all of these organizations, took them over, and then wore their face around as a mask like Hannibal Lecter and said, “Why don&#8217;t you just trust the science?”
Here&#8217;s the answer: “Because you&#8217;re not interested in the science. You&#8217;re interested in the ideology.”
This is not a fringe thing happening at a few schools. It is happening at public schools across the country.
In 2023, Minnesota passed a law banning conversion therapy. When many people think of conversion therapy, they picture somebody who takes a gay kid, hooks the kid up to electrodes, then zaps them until they&#8217;re straight.
But that is not what these states now mean by conversion therapy. What they mean by conversion therapy is that you are not allowed as a psychologist, as a mental health care professional (as a parent, by the way), to bring your kid to a mental health care professional who tries to convince your boy that he is not, in fact, a girl.
So if the parents of the shooter had brought him to a mental health care professional or religious guidance professional, a priest, that could be illegal in the state of Minnesota because conversion therapy is banned in the state of Minnesota.
What this law says is that if your boy expresses gender confusion and says, “Mommy, I might be a girl” and you bring him to a psychologist and the psychologist says, “You&#8217;re a boy, you&#8217;re not a girl. You should stop trying to claim that you&#8217;re a girl because you&#8217;re not,” that would violate the law in the state of Minnesota.
It effectively makes any help for a “detransition” illegal in the state of Minnesota. If you, as a parent in the state of Minnesota, say no to transition procedures or you wish to fight the insanity that is this ideology, you could have your kid removed from you under Minnesota law.
That is horrifying. You have an entire delusion that is now being promoted by state legislatures, by governors across the country, particularly in blue states, reinforced by the lies of medical associations that are supposed to be all about “do no harm” and instead are actively promoting harm with an educational system completely honeycombed with members of the ideological Left.
The costs are very real. This happens to be an outsized cost, because it&#8217;s not just about the person who had the mental illness. It&#8217;s about all the people the person decided to harm.
This ideology is dangerous.
And we see it again and again.

Shooting At Annunciation School Church In Minneapolis Leaves Multiple Children Dead And Many Injured

How State And Medical Institutions Enabled The Trans Church Shooting

American Medical Association

Gender Identity

Therapy

Tim Walz

GOP Rep. Tom Emmer on Thursday called for his home state of Minnesota to repeal its “trans refuge” law in the wake of the deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis by a transgender-identifying man.
Emmer <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/28/us-news/house-gop-whip-tom-emmer-calls-for-repeal-of-minnesotas-trans-refuge-law/">told</a> the New York Post that the law, which was passed back in 2023 and signed by Democratic Governor Tim Walz, was encouraging mental distress. The law made Minnesota a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leftist-minnesota-just-gave-state-power-to-take-kids-away-if-parents-dont-approve-gender-surgery">safe haven</a> for parents to take their children to undergo transgender procedures if their home states had banned such practices. 
“We got to respect everyone. We got to have compassion for everyone. But we got to understand that we’ve got some serious mental health issues that are being exacerbated by these types of messages by people like Tim Walz and everybody who supported that law,” Emmer, the House GOP whip, told The Post. 
Emmer made the comments just one day after Robin Westman, a 23-year-old man who identified as a woman and previously went by Robert, opened fire during a school Mass held at Annunciation Catholic School. Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed in the attack, and 18 other people were injured. 
“They should immediately repeal it, but they won’t,” Emmer said of the 2023 law. “They have been encouraging this type of confusion. This poor young man was tortured. He clearly had serious mental health issues and rather than actually helping him, they were actually exacerbating it.”
“You look at the sadness of these tortured human beings — because they do have regrets later — and no, we should have never started it. It should not be allowed,” he said. 
Portions of writings Westman left behind <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wish-i-never-brain-washed-myself-minnesota-school-shooter-said-he-was-tired-of-being-trans?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=‘Wish+I+Never+Brain-Washed+Myself’%3A+Minnesota+School+Shooter+Said+He+Was+‘Tired+Of+Being+Trans’">indicate</a> he had regrets about identifying as transgender. 
“I only keep [long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself,” Westman reportedly wrote in a journal entry. 
In another section of his journal, Westman reportedly wrote, “I don’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.”
Police have said that Westman’s writings were “full of hate,” and published portions reveal that he had disliked Jews, Catholics, and considered attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump. 
Emmer said that someone must have failed to intervene in Westman&#8217;s life because there had to have been warning signs about his mental state.  
“Somebody had to know,” he told the Post. “Somebody in his neighborhood, somebody in his family, somebody in his network, somebody had to know that he had these serious mental health issues and why didn’t someone speak up? Why didn’t somebody offer him some help?”

House Passes Crypto Market Structure Bill

Top House Republican Demands Minnesota ‘Immediately’ Repeal ‘Trans Refuge’ Law

Congress

transgender surgery

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