WASHINGTON – An elderly gunman opened fire with a rifle inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday, killing a security guard before being shot. Authorities said they were investigating a white supremacist as the suspect.
The 89-year-old assailant was hospitalized in critical condition, Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty said.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the gunman was “engaged by security guards immediately after entering the door” with a rifle. “The second he stepped into the building he began firing.”
One law enforcement official said James Von Brunn, a white supremacist, was under investigation in the shooting, and a second official said the elderly man’s car was found near the museum and tested for explosives. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss the investigation just beginning.
Von Brunn has a racist, anti-Semitic Web site and wrote a book titled “Kill the Best Gentiles.”
In 1983, he was convicted of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board. He was arrested two years earlier outside the room where the board was meeting, carrying a revolver, knife and sawed-off shotgun. At the time, police said Von Brunn wanted to take the members hostage because of high interest rates and the nation’s economic difficulties.
Associated Press – June 10, 2009
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Beliefnet
Advertisement
posted June 10, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Clearly he’s at fault (presuming the facts are as presented) and I’ll bet there are web sites and books whose authors are also at fault, and I hope they can all be taken to court and put away or drained of every drop of their money.
posted June 10, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Here’s a somewhat more complete story with further links; no doubt there is or will be a lot more.
Apparently Fox News, the source for utter nonsense, spent a lot of time speculating the guy was a Muslim. They stopped when they learned he was from their bailiwick, white and angry and stupid.
posted June 10, 2009 at 7:33 pm
There seems to be more Neo-Nazi activities popping up in the news of late. Perhaps that is what gave him the impetus to, at the age of 89 yrs., the idea to do what he did. I read that a Neo-Nazi group is threatening to turn up on Gay Pride Sunday in MO and disrupt it.
posted June 10, 2009 at 8:01 pm
To add to what is being broadcast, I think it was on NPR, that in one of the killer’s writings or something, he said he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. His version of glory, I guess. IF true, maybe he won’t survive and save the government the trouble of yet again putting him in jail. The last stint didn’t solve anything. Unfortunately the guard died doing his job.
posted June 10, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Henrietta, long time no read. It’s good to see you posting.
posted June 11, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Thanks nnmns!