Gunman, guard shot at Holocaust museum
NBC News: Suspect has ties to hate, anti-government groups
WASHINGTON - An elderly gunman exchanged fire with security guards inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday. One security guard and the gunman were taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as James Wenneker von Brunn, 88, from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, NBC News reported. NBC said he may have had connections to hate groups or anti-government groups.
D.C. police spokeswoman Traci Hughes said the suspect walked into the museum at about 12:50 p.m. ET with a rifle and shot a guard. U.S. Park Police Sgt. David Schlosser says one or more guards at the museum returned fire, hitting the suspect.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the suspect immediately began shooting his rifle as he entered the museum. The FBI said it had no earlier reports of threats against the museum.
Gunman in critical condition
Authorities said the gunman was in critical condition and the security guard was in grave condition. Both were taken to George Washington University Hospital.
A third person reportedly was hurt after being cut by broken glass.
Von Brunn is believed to have had contact with law enforcement in the past, according to NBC. A D.C. Superior Court jury convicted a man by the same name in 1983 of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board.
The case involved a 1981 incident in which police arrested Von Brunn at the board's headquarters carrying several weapons. He was convicted and later released from federal prison in 1989, records show.
At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, officials declined to publicly confirm Von Brunn is their suspect.
According to Joseph Persichini, assistant director in charge of the Washington FBI field office, authorities have dispatched people to a suspect's home to check his computer. He said they are investigating this as a possible hate crime or domestic terrorism.
A racist, anti-Semitic Web site called http://www.holywesternempire.org and a book called "Kill the Best Gentile" were attributed to von Brunn.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
The rest of the artical is here.
4 comments:
What the fuck is right...
Riot Kitty - I'm glad that I wasn't the only one who immediately had that thought cross their mind!
I mean....for chrissake, if this was a terrorist attack, why isn't Dr. Tiller's killer being called a terrorist by the Feds?!?!
Fuck that racist Nazi bastard. He'll probably die and save us the hassle of a trial. Good.
Gordon - The motherfucker better die!
Post a Comment