Museum on horrors of Holocaust gripped by shooting

[Muezzin]

By CALVIN WOODWARD and NAFEESA SYEED – 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The most prominent American museum bearing witness to violence against Jews was the scene of bloodshed, its doors breached by an assailant who opened fire with a rifle, killing a guard in an attack linked to a white supremacist's hate.

James von Brunn, 88, a Holocaust denier who once tried to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board, is the suspect in Wednesday's assault at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Guard Stephen T. Johns was killed.

Security engaged the gunman as soon as he stepped inside the crowded museum and began shooting, authorities said. Johns, 39, who is black, "died heroically in the line of duty," museum director Sara Bloomfield said.

One guard shot and critically wounded the assailant. He was being treated at a Washington hospital.

A self-described artist, advertising man and author living in Annapolis, Md., von Brunn wrote an anti-Semitic treatise, "Kill the Best Gentiles," decried "the browning of America" and claimed to expose a Jewish conspiracy "to destroy the White gene-pool." He also wrote of a lifetime of seething anger.

"It's better to be strong than right," he said in one of his dark screeds online, "unless you like dying. Crowds hate good guys."

When von Brunn was captured after the shooting, he had a list he had made of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, according to a law enforcement official. The purpose of the list was not immediately clear, said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Investigators are trying to determine how von Brunn acquired the .22-caliber rifle used in the attack, said two other law enforcement officials, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israeli officials and U.S. Muslim and Hispanic groups all expressed shock at the attack, which unfolded in a public space filled with records, photographs and exhibits standing as stark testament to the Nazis' killing more than 6 million Jews in the Holocaust of more than a half-century ago.

The museum was crowded with schoolchildren and other tourists, but all escaped injury.

Ashley Camp, 14, of Forsyth, Ill., on a field trip with more than 40 other students, said she heard two or three gunshots. Soon after, a security guard ordered the group to run to the exit.

"We had to sprint as fast as we could out the door," she said. "I thought it was the movie (part of a museum exhibit), but then everyone started screaming and running."

Law enforcement officials said von Brunn's car was found near the museum and was tested for explosives. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Von Brunn was sentenced in 1983 for attempted armed kidnapping and other charges in his 1981 bid to seize Fed board members. A guard captured him outside the room where the board was meeting. He had a revolver, sawed-off shotgun and knife in a bag with him. He served more than six years in prison.

"The subject resides in my memory like old road-kill," he wrote of the capture. "What could have been a slam-bang victory turned into ignoble failure. Recalling all of this presents an onerous task. I am getting near the end of the diving board."

Von Brunn is a native of St. Louis, a World War II veteran who served in the Navy for about 14 years, worked in advertising in New York City and moved to Maryland's Eastern Shore in the late 1960s, where he stayed in advertising and tried to make a mark as an artist. He was living in New Hampshire the year of his arrest at the Fed headquarters.

Public records show that in 2004 and 2005 he lived briefly in Hayden, Idaho, which for years was home to the Aryan Nations, a racist group run by neo-Nazi Richard Butler.

Civil rights groups were familiar with his virulent history.

"We've been tracking this guy for decades," said Heidi Beirich, director of research for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, which tracks hate crimes. "He thinks the Jews control the Federal Reserve, the banking system, that basically all Jews are evil," she said. "He's an extreme anti-Semite."

His Internet writings say the Holocaust was a hoax. "At Auschwitz the 'Holocaust' myth became Reality, and Germany, cultural gem of the West, became a pariah among world nations," he wrote.

The attack is "further proof that anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial have not passed from the world," said Israel's information and Diaspora minister, Yuli Edelstein.

"It's the first domestic terrorist of this age that we've seen," Beirich said. "It just shows you it doesn't matter what age you are — you can be driven to violence from these belief systems."

The attack was the third unsettling shooting that appeared to have political underpinnings.

A 23-year-old Army private, William Andrew Long, was shot and killed outside a recruiting office this month in Arkansas and a fellow soldier wounded. The suspect, a Muslim convert, has said he considers the killing justified because of the U.S. military presence in the Middle East.

Late last month, abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was shot to death in his church. The man accused of killing him is a longtime vocal opponent of abortion.

At the White House, just blocks away from the museum, President Barack Obama said: "This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world."

Associated Press writers Desiree Hunter in Montgomery, Ala., Sarah Brumfield and Aaron Morrison in Baltimore, Brian Witte in Annapolis, Md., and Eileen Sullivan, Lolita C. Baldor, Devlin Barrett, Ted Bridis, Eileen Sullivan, Barry Schweid and Brett Zongker in Washington contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Source

Here's a BBC report too.

[The_Prince]

wow the islamo facists have white rednecks now, i guess the fbi were right, they are using white people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[glo]

wow the islamo facists have white rednecks now, i guess the fbi were right, they are using white people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just to clarify, you are being sarcastic ... right??!

(I can never tell ...)

[Clover]

wow the islamo facists have white rednecks now, i guess the fbi were right, they are using white people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow. Just Wow.

It is sad that people do this, but the world is not perfect. I hope the guard lives a good life, and may he be with his ancestors.

[joedawun]

wow the islamo facists have white rednecks now, i guess the fbi were right, they are using white people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greetings, "The Prince"... You are going to have to do some work to make this into a situation that has anything to do with Muslims, or "Islamophobia".

Could you kindly provide links to any claims that this attack had anything to do with "islamo facists"? I have not been aware of any such speculation.

Perhaps you were just being sarcastic, as glo has suggested above. Please clarify for us...Thank you in advance!

JD

[ardianto]

wow the islamo facists have white rednecks now, i guess the fbi were right, they are using white people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What are you talking about ?.
Oh no, no, don't tell me this white redneck is Von Brunn. As an Aryan racist he is not a Muslim and has no any relation with Muslim people. And even he hate Muslim people.

As a Muslim, don't ever call Islam as fascist, okay ?

[aamirsaab]

I detest neo-nazis; these ******* go around being racist; hurling abuse and killing non-white folk because they think they're superior - like it is a God-given right to be white. Freakin racist ****, I want to kick them all in their ***.

[Whatsthepoint]

I think this has been given too much attention, 6000 news stories on google, heck that's more than the Air France crash.

[Clover]

I detest neo-nazis; these asswipes go around being racist; hurling abuse and killing non-white folk because they think they're superior - like it is a God-given right to be white. Freakin racist ****, I want to kick them all in their ass.

Just to let you know, they kill white people too. White isn't their culture, Aryan is, and Aryan isn't neccessarily white. Hitler hated France, but they wer,e for the most part, white, he hated Russia, some of them were white. He believened a superior Germanic race, a race that was, what we'd call, and he probably would call a Upgraded White Race. He seen Whites as a second, while blacks, arabs, mexicans were third, but his Aryan was first.

[Pomak]

Just to let you know, they kill white people too. White isn't their culture, Aryan is, and Aryan isn't neccessarily white. Hitler hated France, but they wer,e for the most part, white, he hated Russia, some of them were white. He believened a superior Germanic race, a race that was, what we'd call, and he probably would call a Upgraded White Race. He seen Whites as a second, while blacks, arabs, mexicans were third, but his Aryan was first.

Then how do you explain the neo-nazis in Russia?

[Amadeus85]

Then how do you explain the neo-nazis in Russia?

Lack of brains plus "Daddy hit me when I was young".

[Pomak]

Lack of brains plus "Daddy hit me when I was young".

I was referring to this part

White isn't their culture, Aryan is

[Clover]

Then how do you explain the neo-nazis in Russia?

I do not explain for them. I do not know much about them.

[Whatsthepoint]

Then how do you explain the neo-nazis in Russia?

Even worse, in Israel!

[Pomak]

Even worse, in Israel!

My point is that they are not subscribing to the aryan myth. Its plain and simple white nationalism.

[Amadeus85]

My point is that they are not subscribing to the aryan myth. Its plain and simple white nationalism.

Their heads are so empty that it would be hard for them understand the aryan myth. However they distinguish colours.

[Qingu]

wow the islamo facists have white rednecks now, i guess the fbi were right, they are using white people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, we in America haven't heard much talk about "Islamofascists" since the new administration took over.

In fact, the most noteworthy report from the Department of Homeland Security recently was about violent threats from right-wing Christian fundamentalist and white supremacists. Like this guy. And like three other recent shooters.

I know it's easy and satisfying to demonize America as this monolithic mass of Muslim-hatred, but the reality is more complicated that. I hope you're willing to put your prejudices aside in the future.

[جوري]

funny, (we) live in America too, and Muslims and their islamofascim is on the news daily.. even the two Haitian morons, who were herbing up bombed a synagogue, were made into Islamofascists. And one goldberg/stein came on TV even after the Imam of the mosque condemened these acts and said, we need to catch the flies that come out that cesspool .. along a many other hateful comments..

must live in a different states than the rest of us idealistic one!

you are only hated because you are hateful.. hate breeds hate!

[Qingu]

funny, (we) live in America too, and Muslims and their islamofascim is on the news daily.. even the two Haitian morons, who were herbing up bombed a synagogue, were made into Islamofascists. And one goldberg/stein came on TV even after the Imam of the mosque condemened these acts and said, we need to catch the flies that come out that cesspool .. along a many other hateful comments..

Are you watching Fox News?

I get my news from the New York Times. Haven't seen any talk of Islamofascism. Haven't heard any talk of it from the new administration either.

you are only hated because you are hateful.. hate breeds hate!

What have I said or done that is hateful?

Or are you saying you hate me—a liberal—because of the stupid things the Republicans in America do and say? Isn't that like hating all Muslims because of the stupid things the Taliban does and says?

[جوري]

Are you watching Fox News?

Yes, and as much as I despise them and the way they dispense their bull, I can't stop watching!

I get my news from the New York Times. Haven't seen any talk of Islamofascism. Haven't heard any talk of it from the new administration either.


What have I said or done that is hateful?

perhaps I should make it better into monolithic mass of American-hatred!

Or are you saying you hate me—a liberal—because of the stupid things the Republicans in America do and say? Isn't that like hating all Muslims because of the stupid things the Taliban does and says?

see above!

all the best