Was Robin Westman, Minneapolis trans shooter part of extreme dark web groups cultivating discord & violence amongst disconnected youth?
Robin Westman, the Minneapolis trans shooter who shot up a Catholic Church, killing two children, injuring 18 others, was inspired by a dark extremist network of nihilistic terror groups that prey on and exploit young people, experts believe.
Groups with names like 764, COM, No Lives Matter and the Order of Nine Angles have been spawning school shooters and other violent actors for years and have increasingly become the ‘go to’ resources on the dark web for disaffected youth.
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Crime experts believe that some of these groups are part of the ’764 network’ an umbrella term canvassing a variety of fringe communities on the dark web, some satanic, some accelerationist and many obsessed with Nazis and mass shooters, which could have appealed to Westman, 23, who leading into Wednesday’s shooting was consumed with nihilistic feelings, a reverence for mass child shooters and deep conflict about their gender identity.
The groups which have spawned on the dark web increasingly attract disaffected youth, seemingly at odds with mainstream society and unable to adjust or fit in. It is here in these underground online ‘fringe’ communities that would be shooters and perpetrators of violence and anti-social behavior find a community.
David Riedman, creator of the K–12 School Shooting Database and a professor at Idaho State University, told the dailymail that Westman’s use of coded symbols, inscriptions on weapons, including ‘For the Children, ‘Where is your God?’ and ‘Kill Donald Trump’ along with references to past mass shooters align with online lore where such individuals have become lionised and curious internet users increasingly drawn and seduced by.
‘There are very clear references in the photos and videos from the shooting,’ Riedman, a long-time authority on school shooters told the dailymail.
‘It’s almost like this is the postmodern representation of a template of violence – if you’re going to commit mass violence, you need to draw on all of these other pieces that exist in the lore around it.’
Law enforcement investigators and academics who study the online groups describe them as ‘Satanic neo-Nazi transnational sextortion networks’ or ‘ideological violent extremists’.
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Online niche groups found by invite only messaging apps
According to Riedman the groups exist on niche online communities where groups cultivate members on private encrypted, invite-only messaging apps like Discord, Telegram or Terrorgram, that are stored in servers all over the world and are difficult for law enforcement to monitor.
Terrorgram, a loose online ecosystem of violent extremist channels, operates on Telegram and is a hotbed for these types of extremists according to experts.
Young adults and kids also fall into the groups’ traps via online gaming platforms like Roblox.
764, which traces its roots back to the much older Order of Nine Angles network as well as to the Columbine shooters, was formed by 15-year-old Bradley Cadenhead of Stephenville, Texas, in 2021.
Riedman also pointed to an ominous global dimension. Westman wrote in Cyrillic script, echoing a trend seen in Eastern Europe.
‘There’s a huge Columbine subculture in Russia and in Eastern Europe,’ Riedman said referring to the 1999 school shooting in Colorado that killed 14.
‘There have been a number of Columbine-mimic attacks there. Just recently, a Georgian neo-Nazi was arrested who was connected to the Antioch High School shooter. These connections exist online, and they cross borders.’
FBI probes dark web groups fermenting domestic terrorism
In May, the FBI announced it was opening 250 investigations tied to the 764 group’s activities, adding that some victims have been as young as nine. The FBI believes there could be thousands of victims around the world.
The US Department of Justice classifies 764 and COM as ‘Tier One’ terrorism threats, the highest priority afforded to an extremist group in law enforcement.
‘The more gore, the more violence… that raises their stature within the groups,’ FBI Assistant Director David Scott, the head of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, told ABC News at the time.
‘So it’s sort of a badge of honor within some of these groups to actually do the most harm to victims.’
The communities attract fans who are obsessed with the actions of former mass shooters and revel and glorify in their infamy, with authorities now concerned such venues have become clandestine breeding grounds for would be domestic terrorism.
While authorities have yet to conclusively point to Westman having direct links to such underground niche groups, crime experts continue to monitor their existence and believe that they are ripe for fermenting dissent and violence amongst the most disaffected and alienated in the community, seeking meaning and community in a word that often shuns and misunderstands them.
Aware of their proliferation on their apps and servers, a spokesperson for Discord, one venue where underground communities spawn, said the company is ‘deeply committed to safety’’
Adding: ‘We use a combination of advanced technology and trained safety teams to proactively find and remove content that violates our policies.’
Offered Telegram, ‘All groups and channels identified with 764 were removed as soon as they were discovered in February 2024. Moderators have continually monitored since then to ensure 764-related communities cannot reemerge, resulting in the removal of hundreds of groups.’
A spokesperson for Roblox said they have ‘zero tolerance’ for inappropriate behavior and have teams in place to safeguard their users.
