Man Who Opened Fire in Holocaust Museum Reportedly a Self-Proclaimed Racist

While attacking people in a museum that memorializes the Jewish victims of the Nazi's with an act that seems consistent with a long undying Nazi dedication, this racist reveals or claims on his Website, that he actually served in the U.S. Navy during WWII.

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. Photo courtesy: Central Washington University

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - A man old enough to have actually been a Nazi soldier reportedly entered the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. today and opened fire with a rifle. A security guard was shot and later died of his wounds.

Officials report that the suspect, who was shot, is an 89-year old self-described white supremacist named James W. von Brunn who operates an anti-Semitic Web site and is the author of the book, "Kill the Best Gentile."

He reportedly opened fire with a rifle which he plainly carried into the building.

Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty told The AP that both the victim and the shooter were initially hospitalized, and that the gunman was in critical condition.

The guard who was killed is Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, who had been with the Holocaust Museum for six years.

"There are no words to express our grief and shock over today’s events at the Museum, which took the life of Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns," a news release from the museum stated. Museum staff says this dedicated employee will be sorely missed.

"Officer Johns, who died heroically in the line of duty, served on the Museum’s security staff for six years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns’s family."

Out of respect and for other reasons, the museum will not be open tomorrow.

James von Brunn

"We have made the decision to close the Museum Thursday, June 11, in honor of Officer Johns and our flags will be flown at half mast in his memory."

James W. von Brunn claims on his Website to hold a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from a mid-Western university.

While attacking people in a museum that memorializes the Jewish victims of the Nazi's, with an act that seems consistent with a long undying Nazi dedication, this racist reveals that he actually served in the U.S. Navy during WWII.

He states that during WWII he served as PT-Boat captain, Lt. USNR, and for twenty years he was an advertising executive and film-producer in New York City. This information once again, is claimed and not verified. What we do know about von Brunn, according to The AP, is "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."

A statement on von Brunn's Website on the matter reads, "In 1981 Von Brunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest." He claims to be a resident of Maryland.

That is interesting to state non-violence while carrying a revolver, knife and sawed-off shotgun.

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor.
Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), the first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several other awards including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators.
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