Gunman charged in Holocaust Museum shooting

Security Guard Stephen T. Johns was shot to death Wednesday by Holocaust denier James von Brunn, who had left his car in a lane of traffic outside an entrance to the museum before walking in with a concealed rifle, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at a news conference.

Von Brunn, who once tried to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve, started shooting immediately, exchanging fire with guards who shot him at least eight times - including in the face - and critically injured him, stopping him from entering the museum and hurting anyone else, Lanier said.

He said authorities have contacted or visited any people or places named in documents found in von Brunn's car. Authorities searched the red 2002 Hyundai for explosives, but found none.

In his car, officers found a notebook with a handwritten note saying, "You want my weapons - this is how you'll get them. The Holocaust is a lie. Obama was created by Jews," according to a court affidavit.

Federal authorities says they are convinced that von Brunn was responsible for the slaying of the 39-year-old Johns.

Joseph Persichini, assistant director of the District FBI field office, said authorities at this point have no information indicating that von Brunn had any assistants or accomplices.

Authorities did not have an "open file" on von Brunn. Persichini stressed that the investigation into the slaying of Johns was still "in the preliminary stage."

"We know what Mr. von Brunn did [Wednesday] at the Holocaust museum. Now it's our responsibility to determine why he did it," Persichini said. "We have to ask ourselves did all these years of public display of hatred impact his actions?"

Von Brunn, a self-avowed white supremacist, remains in critical condition at George Washington University Hospital Thursday morning. At least one guard returned fire after von Brunn allegedly opened fire at the crowd-filled museum Wednesday afternoon.

Bouquets of roses, lilies and other flowers were lined up outside the museum walls Thursday morning. The entrance where the shooting occurred was still cordoned off by police tape.

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum volunteer Barbara Rein knelt in front of the museum and placed a bouquet of flowers. Rein told WTOP she was there to bring "flowers for our Officer Stephen because he and the guards saved our lives."

Rein sits at the front desk with another woman, a Holocaust survivor, and was at the museum when the shooting occurred. Rein told WTOP she grabbed the woman's hand and jumped under the desk when she saw the gunman.

"I thought, 'We're going to die.' And I thought that this woman that I was there with had lived through ghettos and concentration camps and a death march and she was going to die under a desk in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. But she didn't because our guard saved us. Because this museum is so valuable to all of us," Rein told WTOP.

Outside the museum, authorities searched von Brunn's car for explosives, but found none. A court affidavit describes the shooting at the museum in detail and says it was captured on security video.

For the past two years, von Brunn has been living in an Annapolis apartment with his son and his son's fiancee, according to a court affidavit. Court documents show he pays his son $400 a month in rent.

The fiancee told authorities when von Brunn moved in, he brought two weapons: a 30/30 rifle and a .22 caliber rifle.

Authorities searched von Brunn's bedroom and recovered ammunition and several journals and manuscripts.

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said quick work by law enforcement "literally saved the lives of countless people."

Leroy Carter, the father of the slain guard, heard about the shooting on the radio.

"We heard that he had passed on the way down to the hospital," Carter says.

Johns' son, 11-year-old Stephen Jr., is among those grieving.

"To me, he was a pretty great guy," says Stephen Johns Jr. "He was always there for me when I was down or sad.

"When I had heard about what had happened, I was just sad, mad at the guy who shot him."

Johns was a six-year veteran of the museum. In an e-mail to the Associated Press, director Sara Bloomfield says he "died heroically in the line of duty."

After a lifetime of apparent hate, a fellow white separatist says von Brunn had become despondent over his Social Security being cut and he believed it was because someone in Washington was looking at his Web site. John de Nugent tells WTOP von Brunn's e-mails were growing more violent but that he had given away his computer.

Channel 7 reports that a list was found in von Brunn's car with nine other locations on it, including the White House and U.S. Capitol, along with 2 news agencies. The Washington Post reports the National Cathedral was also on that list.

Federal law enforcement sources tell WTOP von Brunn is a convicted felon. In 1983, he was convicted of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board and was found carrying a revolver, knife and sawed-off shotgun. He served more than six years in prison for the offense.

A Web site apparently linked to von Brunn contains anti-Semitic and racist writings and promotes a book written by von Brunn. The biography section of the Web site says von Brunn was born in 1920, was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserves and a captain of a patrol torpedo boat during World War II and received four battle stars.

After a career in New York City as a copywriter and art director, von Brunn now lives in Annapolis, where he is an artist, according to the Web site.

According to a relative, von Brunn attended Washington University in St. Louis and is an artist.

A cousin, Virginia Gerker of St. Louis, said in an interview she hadn't seen him in 50 years. She said her family had "disowned" him believed him to be mentally ill.

About a dozen years ago, he applied to have his art shown at a gallery in Easton, Md., according to two of the owners. Laura Era and Jennifer Wharton said they rejected his work and he stomped out.

Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center said von Brunn's Web site has long been listed as a hate site.

The Rev. David Ostendorf, executive director of Center for a New Community in Chicago, a national civil rights group, said von Brunn has described in his own writings a long relationship with Willis Carto, founder of the Liberty Lobby, the Spotlight Newspaper and a well-known white supremacist and anti-Semite.

The shooting closed roads around the museum for several hours, tying up traffic downtown as authorities investigated.

The museum normally has a heavy security presence with guards positioned both inside and outside the museum. All visitors are required to pass through metal detectors at the entrance, and bags are screened.

Museum officials say the museum was full at the time of the shooting and estimate "a couple thousand" visitors were inside.

Among those inside the museum at the time of the shooting was former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen. Cohen was at the museum with his wife, who has a written a play entitled "Anne & Emmitt" that was to debut Wednesday night at the museum.

The play is an imaginary conversation between Anne Frank, the young girl who kept a diary while hiding from the Nazis during World War II, and Emmitt Till, a young black boy who was murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman in 1955.

"This is something the world needs to stand up to," Cohen told WTOP. "This is just another pathetic example of a hater."

The museum, located just off the National Mall near the Washington Monument, is a popular tourist attraction. It draws about 1.7 million visitors each year. It is closed Thursday in honor of the slain guard.

Linda Elston, who was visiting the museum from Nevada City, Calif., said she was on the lower level of the museum watching a film when she and others were told to evacuate.

"It was totally full of people," Elston said. "It took us a while to get out."

She said she didn't hear any shots and didn't immediately know why there was an evacuation. The experience left her feeling "a little anxious," she said.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP and the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)