Holocaust Museum Shooting Kills Guard

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Hours after a deadly shooting inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, information about the alleged gunman and a possible plot to target other D.C. area buildings was still coming in Wednesday night.

Law enforcement sources tell FOX 5 that during a search of a car that is believed to belong 88-year-old James von Brunn , investigators found a notebook with information about six to nine locations in the D.C. area, including the National Holocaust Museum. Other locations on the list included the U.S. Capitol, the White House, the Washington Post, and a FOX News location.

FOX 5 is being told investigators followed up at each of the locations, trying to find out if there were any sightings of the suspect or any correspondence.

Reporter Will Thomas also confirmed that von Brunn was staying at a Holiday Inn in the Glover Park section of Northwest D.C. before the shooting.

Earlier in the day, FOX 5's cameras captured EMTs scrambling to get von Brunn into a waiting ambulance. Investigators believe the 88-year-old with an anti-semitic past walked into the main 14th Street lobby of the museum just before 1 p.m.

Witnesses say he was wearing a confederate soldier's cap and a long coat, which he may have worn to conceal what police describe as an early-1900s rifle. Seconds later, there was gunfire.

Police say von Brunn pulled out the rifle as soon as he walked inside, even before passing through the magnetometer in the lobby. Six-year veteran security officer, Stephen Tyrone Johns was hit. The 39-year-old from Temple Hills, Maryland died a short time later at George Washington Hospital.

His colleagues know that the brave man lost his life trying to save others.

"He was an outstanding colleague, greeted us with a smile," said Sara Bloomfield, the museum director. "He will be missed."

Two other security guards fired back at the gunman and may have hit him in the head.

Outside the museum, officers canvassed the area using bomb sniffing dogs and discovered what investigators believe is von Brunn's car parked out front. Police searched it top to bottom, and law enforcement sources say that's when they recovered a notebook and other materials which included the names of the other federal and media locations. Police are trying to determine if these locations were part of an intended hit list.

Von Brunn was listed in critical condition on Wednesday night. Another security officer was hurt by broken glass.

The Associated Press reports that in 1983, Von Brunn 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.

In a statement released late Wednesday afternoon to museum employees, museum officials said Johns, who is from Temple Hills, Maryland, had been a security officer there for six years.

Here is the full statement released by the museum:

"Stephen Tyrone Johns died heroically in the line of duty today. There are no words to express our grief and shock over these events. He served on the Museum's security staff for six years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns' family. We have made the decision to close the Museum tomorrow in honor of Officer Johns, and our flags will be flown at half mast in his memory."
 

On his Web site, Von Brunn says he was a PT boat captain in the U.S. Navy Reserves during World War II.

A bio from von Brunn's book website:

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.

He is now an artist and author and lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Statement by President Obama on Holocaust Museum Shooting
"I am shocked and saddened by todays shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world.

Today, we have lost