Elderly, Anti-Semitic Gunman Kills Guard at Holocaust Museum

In a bizarre act of violence yesterday, an elderly man armed with a gun entered the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and opened fire with his rifle, wounding a security guard in the process before being shot by other guards. The gunman, Von Brunn, who has a history of violent anti-Semitism, was hospitalized after being shot and is in critical condition. Cathy Lanier, police chief in Washington DC, noted that Brunn was "engaged by security guards immediately after entering the door. The second he stepped into the building he began firing." The guard whom Brunn shot, identified as Stephen T. Johns, was a six-year veteran of the museum and died of his wounds.

Brunn, who is 88 years old, is a known white supremacist, is under investigation and his car, which was found near the museum, was checked for explosives. Brunn has previously published a book titled "Kill the Best Gentiles" and also maintains an anti-Semitic website. He has a history of trouble with the law as well, having been convicted in 1983 of attempted kidnapping in a case in which he tried to abscond with members of the Federal Reserve Board. Brunn claimed that the Holocaust was a hoax in some of his writings, noting, "At Auschwitz the ‘Holocaust’ myth became Reality, and Germany, cultural gem of the West, became a pariah among world nations."

At the time of Brunn’s attack yesterday, there were a number of students on a field trip to the museum and Ashley Camp, one of the students on the trip, noted, "We had to sprint as fast as we could out the door. I thought it [the noise] was the movie [referring to a museum exhibit], but then everyone started screaming and running."