The Associated Press is reporting that a shooter opened fire in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., just before 1 p.m. today, fatally wounding a security guard before he was shot.

Authorities said they were investigating a white supremacist as the suspect.

The assailant and his victim were both hospitalized, said Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty, who added that the gunman was in critical condition. The guard, identified by the museum as Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, died later in the hospital. Johns had worked at the museum for six years.
...
One law enforcement official said James Von Brunn, 89, a white supremacist, was under investigation in the shooting, and a second official said the elderly man's car was found near the museum and tested for explosives.
...
Von Brunn has a racist, anti-Semitic Web site and wrote a book titled "Kill the Best Gentile."

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.

Previous Comments

ID

148649

Comment

Events like these are only gonna get worse. A non-white president in power plus a bad economy could equal a recipe for disaster, as far as politically-based violence is concerned.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2009-06-11T11:11:32-06:00

ID

148650

Comment

I also need to point out that this won't be limited to just right-wing groups either. I'm sure some left-wing groups will be inspired to resort to violence too. When I lived in California, I remember some SUVs at a car dealership near Los Angeles and a housing development in San Diego were set on fire, supposedly by an environmental group. Maybe even the shooting at the military recruiting station in Little Rock could be classified as left-wing violence. The suspect was opposed to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2009-06-11T11:44:15-06:00

ID

148653

Comment

Golden, the shooting in Little Rock was motivated by religious fundamentalism, not the peace movement. That would put it on the right, not the left.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2009-06-11T13:03:12-06:00

ID

148654

Comment

Also, let's be clear: not all "environmentalist" groups are liberal these days. There are plenty of conservative groups calling themselves "environmental" when what they're pushing is continued use of fossil fuels and nuclear power over clean energy technology. There are even religious "end-of-days" fundamentalist groups who either deny global warming or say it is "God's will," and who are opposed to any actions resolving it.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2009-06-11T13:16:26-06:00

ID

148655

Comment

It appears the man had gone off his rocker long before he got to this point.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2009-06-11T13:23:05-06:00

ID

148657

Comment

Right, Ronni. The president of Belhaven College is an environmentalist and a "creation care" guy. There is a huge movement of faith toward protecting the environment, as there should be.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-06-11T15:38:39-06:00

ID

148658

Comment

An evil, murderous POS like Von Brunn knows no party loyalty and represents the extreme ideological viewpoint. People like him can be found on the left and the right.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2009-06-11T15:59:02-06:00

ID

148660

Comment

Agreed, Jeff, unbalanced people inhabit both extremes. But the right claimed and embraced Christian fundamentalism in the U.S. That's where you'll find the wing-nuts who who think shooting a doctor "in the name of God" is a fine, upstanding thing to do. All those fine upstanding white supremacists also brandish their Bibles as proof that they've got the corner on God and that they're right to eliminate all other races and religions. At the moment, they seem to be the ones with the guns. Like Donna said on another thread, (and I paraphrase) "I've about had enough of holy warriors."

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2009-06-11T16:21:23-06:00