A right-wing commentator, Joey Mannarino, has said that trans people should to be “locked away and studied” in the wake of a mass shooting in Minneapolis that killed two children and injured 18 others.

The shooting took place on Wednesday morning (27 August) at the Church of the Annunciation in the Windom neighbourhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota as a school-wide mass was taking place for pupils and staff of Annunciation Catholic School.

The shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman, who is believed to have been transgender, died at the scene from a self-inflicted shotgun wound and their motive is currently under investigation by the authorities.

The FBI is investigating the shooting “as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics”.

Following the tragedy, far-right figures have use the shooting to push the conservative conspiracy theory that trans people in the US, who make up around 0.6 per cent of the population, commit violent crime at a higher rate than the general population – which has frequently been disproven.

On Wednesday evening (27 August) Joey Mannarino, whose bio on X describes him as a “political strategist and commentator working with conservative movements/candidates in the US & EU”, wrote in response to the shooting that trans people should be detained as “a matter of national security”.

He said the health and human services department – headed up by Trump ally RFK Jr – should immediately “violate the HIPAA laws” and “forward every transgender and transgender-questioning person to local law enforcement for IMMEDIATE detainment until we can figure out why they keep killing children in schools”.

“They must be locked away and studied,” he wrote.

“Anyone enabling their transitions should be immediately expelled from the medical profession. This needs to be handled by the federal government with no mercy. They need to be treated as we treat terror organisations.”

Health and Human Services must immediately get involved and violate the HIPAA laws to forward every transgender and transgender-questioning person to local law enforcement for IMMEDIATE detainment until we can figure out why they keep killing children in schools.

This is a…

— Joey Mannarino

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