BREAKING: Two People Shot, One Fatally, at the U.S. Holocaust Museum
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
Sgt. David Schlosser from the U.S. Park Police just gave a press conference -- he said a man entered the museum just before 1 p.m. today with a long gun (they aren't sure if it's a rifle or not). The man fired upon a security guard in the museum, at which time they exchanged fire -- a couple of other security guards may have also fired at the gunman.
The U.S. Holocaust Museum is located at 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, near Independence Ave. and 14th Street SW. The area around the museum is currently closed to all traffic.
1:57 p.m. The Post is reporting that three people were shot, but that doesn't match with the U.S. Park Police account.
2:09 p.m. The AP says a third person may have been injured by broken glass. There's also a report that the shooter may have been elderly: "Authorities have not identified the man, who was reported to be born in 1920." That would make the shooter 89 years old.
The U.S. Holocaust Museum has put out a statement that the museum will be closed for the remainder of the day, but expects to open tomorrow. The museum also confirmed that two other guards inside the building did indeed return fire with the gunman. Those other two guards were not injured.
2:24 p.m. WJLA provides this chilling account:
David Unruh, a tourist from Kansas, was in line with his family on the main floor of the museum when he heard what sounded like "five, or maybe six" gunshots.2:30 p.m. NBC News is reporting that the suspected gunman has been identified as James Wenneker von Brunn of Maryland, born 1920, who has ties to white supremacist groups. The American Prospect's Dana Goldstein has more on his biography and affiliations with hate groups."People started yelling, 'Hit the floor! Hit the floor.'" Unruh said.
After a couple of minutes, a museum employee told everyone to evacuate the building, Unruh said.
2:47 p.m. Mayor Fenty is starting a press conference now. He says the shooting took place immediately inside the entrance of the museum. Fenty says the shooter is in critical condition, and the security guard, whose name is still being withheld, is in grave condition.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says there was an off-duty MPD officer nearby who entered the museum shortly after the shooting and rendered aid to the victims. She declined to confirm the shooter's identity, but did say he appeared to have been acting alone, that he was a "lone gunman" with what appears to have been a rifle.
4:00 p.m. WTOP has learned from Federal law enforcement sources that Von Brunn is a convicted felon. "He had been convicted of bringing weapons into the Federal Reserve and served time in a federal penitentiary."
4:14 p.m. WJLA is reporting that the Holocaust Museum guard shot by Von Brunn has died of his injuries. "He was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where he died from his injuries, high level D.C. police sources told ABC 7's Jennifer Donelan. Sources say the gunman remains in critical condition at George Washington University Hospital."
4:32 p.m. The deceased guard's name is Stephen Tyrone Johns, and he had worked at the museum for six years.
Filed in News and tagged crime, MPD, police, shootings, U.S. Holocaust Museum, U.S. Park Police
WaPo is reporting a shotgun, which will probably be called an "assault rifle" by the end of the day.
Already? Puh-leeze. Why is it that gun nuts are always the biggest whiners?
Yeah, bad timing. No im not a gun nut, just following the reporting.
Wow, not to sound selfish but I'm glad my brother's school chose to visit the Zoo this week, instead.
Can't even imagine the kind of commotion there at the Holocaust Museum right now. I actually didn't know that those guards were even armed.. Thanks for the quick newsflash, Sommer.
Other reports say a rifle - so it's definitely a long gun.
One report said the 3rd person injured was due to breaking glass.
Freaky. Take your Aryan Nation elsewhere, gunner.
I remember visiting there many years ago, we were evacuated because of a bomb threat. Building cleared after about 30 minutes. A couple months later found out that those threats are nearly routine there.
I went to Paris in March, and I was thinking when I came back, that I'm glad to live in a country that doesn't require heavy security in every Jewish institution.
In Berlin they also have security around Synagogues, Jewish schools and Jewish cemeteries. They say it's because of the large number of Turks and Arabs who live there. In BERLIN. Which is true, but still...
My dad was walking by about 10 minutes after it happened and he said people were running away from the building screaming that everyone should run for their lives. He, of course, decides to go find out what happened instead.
my mom just texted me that the shooter was 89 years old?!
:-|
yeah, msnbc reported 89 year old shooter with ties to a racist group.
msnbc? Well... I suppose Fox News has already blamed Reverend Wright and/or the Ay-rabs.
I'm going to wait a couple of hours and follow credible news sources that aren't named msnbc or fox news.
Your shooter James W. von Brunn...a loyal Fox viewer no doubt.
ugh. that's going to be a sad story when it turns out he was just diagnosed with some type of terminal cancer and decided he should get himself killed by shooting at jews.
Blame Clint Eastwood.
oh come on, don't make me laugh while reading this.
Fair enough ... but it should be said, terminal cancer cannot come too soon for these hatemongers and Holocaust deniers.
Of course. I'm sure the security guards were Jewish. All those Hawk Security guards I see at every reception desk in town --they're all wearing yamekhas, kibbitzing, having a nosh . . . and who should be without, sitting there all day like s schmuck without so much as a knaydelach, already?
Brilliant.
Of course. I'm sure the security guards were Jewish. All those Hawk Security guards I see at every reception desk in town --they're all wearing yamekhas, kibbitzing, having a nosh . . . and who should be without, sitting there all day like a schmuck without so much as a knaydelach, already?
Brilliant.
Emergency and police vehicles have been flying down Independence toward the museum pretty steadily for the past hour and a half now.
More importantly than how many were shot and what is their current condition is a question I have not seen addressed here.
How is this going to screw up my commute home?
just reported that the 14th st bridge is closed... from the over head cams the sts touching the museum are closed but the rest are moving
MSNBC also said the shooter is James Wenneker von Brunn a dude who loves him some Hitler. What a douche bag.
It looks like msnbc got their man. I'm sure both msnbc and fox news were licking their chops, waiting for an ID that would reinforce their core audiences' prejudices.
Msnbc wins! "Yay, a domectic right-wing terrorist!" I'm guessing they are currently having a field day.
Better luck next time, Fox News.
Dr. Tiller in Kansas, shooting of three police officers in Pittsburgh, and now this. Rightwing extremist are certainly on a roll. Don't tell Michelle Malkin though - http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/14/confirme-the-obama-dhs-hit-job-on-conservatives-is-real/
Eastern Shore nutjob.
http://www.holywesternempire.org/bio.html
If he wanted to shoot Jews, you'd think that he'd go for a synagogue, not a museum where tons of tourists and non-Jews go. Mensa needs to revoke his membership, unless he made that part up.
Note: fleurdeliz does not condone the shooting of Jews or anyone else!
Watching CNN read off the bio of his website was a little awkward.
I think you hit the nail on the head; it's made up. If he was a member of MENSA would he describe it as "the high IQ [sic] society."?
Maryland Eastern Shore nutjob, huh?
I betcha he drove like a holocaust denying white supremacist nutjob. Those holocaust denying white supremacist Maryland drivers are maniacs!
Seeing how is from the Eastern Shore, I would probably agree
If only we had listened to Jim Graham...
this makes me want to cry. and i usually save that for PMSy days.
This is outrageous!! Doesn't this guy know that guns are illegal in DC?
WTF? They closed the 14th Street Bridge? Did anyone call VDOT first? And please ... isn't it obvious by now that this old fart acted on his own? So why all the helicopters and road closures and cops running every which way but Sunday? Me thinks this is just a tad too much. Yes, I understand people were shot, but can't we tone it down just a little?
This is sad, but I think we have not seen even the brunt of what may come in the next couple of years. We have our first black president, which makes me proud, but it makes a lot of formerly-quiet hateful people in this nation very angry. Angry enough that gun purchases have soared in the months following Obama's election. Subsequently, membership in the NRA and other types of organizations have boomed. This says to me that there are a lot of extremist white-only hate groups that think they're preparing for some kind of holy war. It really is just sad that in 2009 we still have a nation full of violently-racist people who will go into museums and start shooting like that.
Now we know why the NRA wants DC's gun laws overturned: they're white extremists who hate black people.
I don't think you can attribute ALL gun purchases and memberships in the NRA after Obama's election to "extremist white-only hate groups"...some of those purchases could be due to the fact that the economy is down the drain and (some) people feel safer having a gun around to ward off any would-be thieves.
Whoa whoa whoa, back that up. While I agree with your comments about Obama and an uptick in hate group participation, I would not lump any of that in with the NRA and gun sales. That has much more to do with conservative (and some liberal) fears of further Democratic gun control measures than some sort of coming race showdown. I'm no fan of the NRA, but lets get our facts straight. Incidentally, about half the NRA members I've met in DC are black.
Exactly. Come on out to PG Trap and Skeet and see how many shooters their meet your stereotype.
white-only hate groups
You mean they're not only hate groups, they're also segregated?
For shame.
This is more about the economy. The one common thread with most of these attacks are they are angry, deluded people who lost their jobs.
I think this one case supersedes the angry unemployed profile. According to his own writings, he was already convicted by a jury of blacks and jews for an act of domestic terrorism against the federal government in the early eighties.
There is an economic component to those who fear "black rule" (and other conspiracies). They feel: Jews control $, Mexicans are taking their jobs & Blacks are taking control/and are accepting welfare. The black rule thing is as old as the nation.
Those who tend to be economically vulnerable make up the majority of NRA members. Yes DC's NRA members are 1/2 black...that's obvious. My uncle (i'm black) is a LA-based member.
I have shot at PG trap with a rainbow coalition of friends. I and my Asian-Am friends got the "eye" that any non-white knows well.
How long before we start hearing that all it takes is one bad apple to make all the holocaust denying white supremacists look bad?
Followed by Bill O'Reilly saying, "Of course we condemn these actions, but......"
And then go on to blame Obama for Socialism.
Wow! Thirty-five comments in an hour? It's a good thing this shooting didn't happen in NE or PG, we might never have heard about it!
Right, because things happening in SW DC always command the biggest headlines on here.
O_o
As long as it takes place within two blocks of a sporting event, a Whole Foods or the route of an open-top bus tour, you can bet a shooting will grab the DCist headlines.
Yet another gun-loving, unstable yahoo.
I was not far from that museum at the time this happened, which is like the 3rd time I've narrowly avoided being in an area where a shooting would take place in the last 2 months!
Man this city is dangerous!
I think the shooter's son was supposed to be with him; but he was hung up spewing testimony to the DC Board of Elections about how homosexual were non-human devil-worshipping sadists who didn't deserve to be protected by human rights code because they're not human. He even made Rev. Jackson's skin crawl!
Here's wishing Mr. Von Brunn a speedy recovery, so that he may stand trial.
Not to be outdone by MSCBC or Faux "News", CNN has a link to its odious iReports right next to this story; the link has the disgusting heading "ARE YOU THERE? TELL US!!!"
And dollars to doughnuts Larry "Cryptkeeper" King will be on with some story about this tragedy tonight. Maybe he'll trot out the poor security guard's wife?
Just out of curiosity, I just checked Fox News to see what was their lead story now that we know it was a right wing nutjob:
Fox News lead story as of 3:28 pm:
Miss California Carrie Prejean to Lose Her Crown
Bwhhahahahahahaha!
Msnbc, of course, is explaining how holocaust denial and global warming are interrelated and how Republicans are worse than Hitler.
"James W. von Brunn holds a BachSci Journalism degree from a mid-Western university where he was president of SAE and played varsity football.
During WWII he served as PT-Boat captain, Lt. USNR, receiving a Commendation and four battle stars. For twenty years he was an advertising executive and film-producer in New York City. He is a member of Mensa, the high-IQ society.
In 1981 Von Brunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest. He was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal. He served 6.5 years in federal prison. (Read about von Brunn's "Federal Reserve Caper" HERE.) He is now an artist and author and lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore."
You missed two important points. 1) He is an SAE. Same arseholes everywhere. 2) He is an artist with clearly shows the art community is fomenting hatred.
Indeed...just as Hitler was a painter. As Eddie Izzard so astutely pointed out:
"I can't get ze f&%king trees just right...DAMN! I vill kill everyone in ze vorld!!!"
The security guard has died
WTOP.com
Sad. No one except his loved ones will probably remember the security guard. But everyone will remember the piece of shit who killed him, who apparently went through life souring everything he came into contact with.
Couldn't this piece of shit have saved us all the misery and simply killed himself?
And why do we drive the freaking gunman to the hospital? I say just put some yellow police tape around him and maybe a Wet Floor sign nearby and let nature take its course.
Like it or hate it, something called the hippocratic oath
Do EMS personnel take the Hippocratic oath too?
Nope. But we have a legal duty to act, which in the eyes of the law does not differentiate between white supremacist assholes and everyone else.
Uh, no. The Dr. may have to try and save him once he's been brought to the hospital. But AFAIK there is no legal duty for a bystander to act.
I want the old coot to live, so he can stand trial and pay for his crimes. Then, he can spend the remainder of his years rotting away in a federal prison... that is of course assuming a black cell mate doesn't slit his throat first... What goes around comes around; he'll get his come-up-ens in the next life; for now, we have to hope he lives, or he'll of gotten everything he wanted and die a martyr in the eyes of his racist friends.
It's looking more and more like he'll be a vegetable for the rest of his days...
I made the mistake of looking at the WaPo comment section. My retinas have been burned out.
regardless of the content of an article, the wapo comment section will do that to you. a mistake you'll never make again, especially due to the reverse chrono comments.
Before my temporarily blindness caused by said forum, I learned that this is the fault of:
* Obama: for turning his back on the Jews
* Obama: For being too cozy to the Jews
* The NRA: for promoting "gun culture"
* Gun control advocates: for not letting tourists protect themselves.
* Fox news: for getting this guy all worked up
* The rest of the media: for being controlled by Jews hiding the truth.
* Liberals: because of their socialists policies
* Conservatives: because they are racist and violent.
Does that clear everything up? Seriously, not one person put the blame with JW Brunn.
Wow. And nobody blamed Bush for this? Unreal.
Yeah, WaPo comment threads always make me want to become an anti-political apolitical monk.
From the Post...
The Holocaust Museum guard that died in today's shooting is Stephen Tyrone Johns, according to the Associated Press. He is African-American and worked at the museum for 6 years.
---
Rest in peace, Mr. Johns.
Second that, Kev. DCist, I expect you'll let us know if there's a public memorial service for Mr. Johns?
You knew this was coming but so fast??? From WaPo:
"Gray: Shooting Renews Need For D.C. Gun Control Laws"
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2009/06/gray_shooting_renews_need_for.html
What an f'ing ahole for trying to capitalize on this today.
What a joke. DC has gun control laws and obviously they work just fine ... not!
What a dick. Some asshole racist from Maryland brings a rifle/lon gun/shotgun and it D.C.'s gun rules fault. Brilliant.
At least he's trying to do something to try to prevent future shootings, unlike the idiots who use such tragedies to push for MORE guns (cf. Virginia State Delegate Todd Gilbert and the Virginia Tech shootings.)
And being the first to comment on this thread, with a remark lifted straight from the gun movement's talking points, you appear well qualified to pass such judgments.
the only point I was making was the some people would immediately start to make political hay out of this. Which is what happened.
What a piece of work. The Post has put up an article from 1983, when Von Brunn was convicted of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve.
Too bad no one shanked him in prison. Hopefully he was someones bitch.
Sources say the gunman remains in critical condition at George Washington University Hospital."
and ironically, his dr and lawyer will be a Jew.
I want the old coot to live, so he can stand trial and pay for his crimes. Then, he can spend the remainder of his years rotting away in a federal prison... that is of course assuming a black cell mate doesn't slit his throat first... What goes around comes around; he'll get his come-up-ens in the next life; for now, we have to hope he lives, or he'll of gotten everything he wanted and die a martry in the eyes of his racist friends.
Frequent reader, highly infrequent commenter here...Just FYI, von Brunn was a member of Mensa for one year, 1986-1987. He didn't renew his membership in 1987 and was never a member again after that.
Disclosure: I'm on the national board of directors from American Mensa. We've got a statement up about the shooting on our website, if anyone's interested.