Von Brunn Charged In Holocaust Museum Slay

88-Year-Old White Supremacist Faces Murder Charges After Allegedly Shooting Security Guard

(CBS/AP)  Last Updated at 6:57 p.m. ET

An 88-year-old white supremacist was charged with murder Thursday, a day after officials said he left a signed anti-Semitic screed in his car outside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, then gunned down a security guard who opened the door to let him in.

Von Brunn could face the death penalty, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr in Washington.

Guard Stephen T. Johns was shot to death Wednesday by Holocaust denier James von Brunn, who left his car outside an entrance to the museum and walked in holding a rifle at his side, District Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at a news conference.

Police have a surveillance tape showing that von Brunn double-parked this red car in front of the museum and walked toward the building with a 22 caliber rifle at his side. Johns began to open the door to let von Brunn in and was immediately shot. Two other security guards returned fire. Spent cartridges reveal Von Brunn fired three shots, the officers eight, Orr reports.

In his car, officers found a notebook with a handwritten note that read, "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.

Von Brunn's .22-caliber rifle held 10 more bullets and investigators found more in his car and at an apartment in Annapolis, Md., that he shared with son and his son's fiancee.

The museum remained closed Thursday and flags flew at half-staff in honor of Johns, 39, who had worked at the museum for six years. Bouquets of roses, lilies and other flowers were left outside the museum walls. The entrance where the shooting occurred was still cordoned off by police tape.

Museum Director Sara Bloomfield said Johns "died heroically in the line of duty."

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Criminal complaint against James Wenneker von Brunn

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"To me he was a pretty great guy. And when I heard about what happened I was just sad. And mad at the guy who shot him," Johns' 11-year-old son, Stephen Johns Jr. told Orr Thursday.

Von Brunn, who tried to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve decades ago, remained in critical condition Thursday at a Washington hospital. A self-described artist, advertising man and author, he wrote an anti-Semitic treatise, "Kill the Best Gentiles," decried "the browning of America" and claimed to expose a Jewish conspiracy "to destroy the White gene-pool." He also wrote of a lifetime of seething anger.

"It's better to be strong than right," he said in one of his dark online postings, "unless you like dying. Crowds hate good guys."

Von Brunn was charged with murder and killing in the course of possessing a firearm at a federal facility. Authorities said Thursday hate crime charges were also possible.

"We know what Mr. von Brunn did yesterday at the Holocaust museum. Now it's our responsibility to determine why he did it," said Joseph Persichini, assistant director of the Washington FBI field office.

The Homeland Security Department said the shooting does not appear to have a connection to terrorism, according to a joint Homeland Security and FBI assessment, though Persichini characterized it as "domestic terrorism."

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.

Von Brunn was sentenced in 1983 for attempted armed kidnapping and other charges in his 1981 bid to seize Fed board members. A guard captured him outside the room where the board was meeting. He had a revolver, sawed-off shotgun and knife in a bag with him. He served more than six years in prison.

"The subject resides in my memory like old road-kill," he wrote of the capture. "What could have been a slam-bang victory turned into ignoble failure."

Von Brunn is a native of St. Louis, a World War II veteran who served in the Navy, worked in advertising in New York City and moved to Maryland's Eastern Shore in the late 1960s, where he stayed in advertising and tried to make a mark as an artist.

Public records show that in 2004 and 2005 he lived briefly in Hayden, Idaho, for years home to the Aryan Nations, a racist group run by neo-Nazi Richard Butler.

Civil rights groups were familiar with his history.

"We've been tracking this guy for decades," said Heidi Beirich, director of research for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, which tracks hate crimes. "He thinks the Jews control the Federal Reserve, the banking system, that basically all Jews are evil."

At the White House, just blocks away from the museum, President Barack Obama said: "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."

Von Brunn's Internet writings say the Holocaust was a hoax. "At Auschwitz the 'Holocaust' myth became Reality, and Germany, cultural gem of the West, became a pariah among world nations," he wrote.

Von Brunn had claimed on his Web site that he had a long-standing relationship with Willis Carto, a publisher of books denying the Holocaust.

Carto flatly denied that in a phone interview, saying he had not heard from von Brunn in years and never had any relationship with him.

In fact, Carto said, in recent months von Brunn "has spent a great deal of anger" attacking American Free Press, the weekly newspaper Carto publishes, "saying these papers and the people who published them were too soft on the Jews."

The attack was the third in a recent wave of unsettling shootings that appeared to have political or ethnic underpinnings.

A 23-year-old Army private, William Andrew Long, was shot and killed outside a recruiting office this month in Arkansas and a fellow soldier was wounded. The suspect, a Muslim convert, has said he considers the killing justified because of the U.S. military presence in the Middle East.

Late last month, abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was shot to death in his church.

Johns, the security guard killed Wednesday, was black.

Only last week, Mr. Obama visited the site of a German concentration camp at Buchenwald in Germany where he noted, "There are those who insist the Holocaust never happened." He added, "This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts, a reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history."

In a statement from Israel's government, Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein said the shooting was "further proof that anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial have not passed from the world."

And the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a prominent American Muslim organization, said in a statement, "We condemn this apparent bias-motivated attack and stand with the Jewish community and with Americans of all faiths in repudiating the kind of hatred and intolerance that can lead to such disturbing incidents."

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

"We've been tracking this guy for decades," said Heidi Beirich, director of research for the law center's Intelligence Project, which tracks hate crimes. "He thinks the Jews control the Federal Reserve, the banking system, that basically all Jews are evil."

The Rev. David Ostendorf, executive director of the 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.

[ralpherus]

illuminated 1 at 9:49- Palestinians are not an ethnicity. They are Arabs. Let Arabia welcome their bretheren. Nope! Tried that. They only want to jihad along. Do you even know what jihad is? It is the struggle that all muslims must strive to perform. It basically consists of 1: kill the jews 2: convert, enslave, or kill, everyone else. See, it IS a struggle to take over a planet.

[ralpherus]

LIARS claim the racists and bigots and evil vermin are the republicans. Nazis are LEFTY.
But even so- the person who did that nasty evil act is the ONE person responsible for it. It is not like he elected folks to keep murdering babies legal or something. PRotect the innocent, attack the criminals- that is the republican mantra.

[faylabouiver]

WE WILL NEVER FORGET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
faylabouiver

[dartplayer501]

Wright is preaching this hatred to hundreds if not thousands of young people that may grow up as future Van Bruns.
Posted by tbbaot

I love this:- A black preacher teaching black kids to grow up to be white supremacists. Is anyone really dumb enough to swallow that?

[Iggy103]

Please, Check out PROTHINK.ORG Almost 8 years since 9-11-01, and this Govrn't still has not caught the people responsible!!! REINVESTIGATE 9-11 NOW!!!!!!!

[Illuminated1]

As some have pointed out Van Brun and Rev. Wright share the same views on Jews. Both were in the US Military. The question is which one is more dangerous? I would say it's Reverend Wright. Van Brun is a one shot hate monger that needs to be locked up for the rest of his short life. Wright is preaching this hatred to hundreds if not thousands of young people that may grow up as future Van Bruns.
Posted by tbbaot

I wont be satisfied with any of this until these conditions have been met ...

1. The plight of the Palestinians must end.....resolve this age long issue now!
2. End foreign aid there, we send them now, $15,000,000.00 DAILY...
this isn't the time to be sending money out of the country to anyone.
3. The influence of biased advisers in our politics is obscene, America for Americans.
It is unfair to have Jewish advisers during these times with the situation in Israel today.
This is not.. antisemitism.....it is pro American.

I think of life as something we have the opportunity to grow into by the lessons we learn from it as the years go on and, because of this, we have the opportunity to gain some semblance of wisdom in our waning years. It blows my mind -- absolutely confounds me -- that after so many years of living, the best this butt-head could come up with is a profound racial hatred. My deepest sympathies go out to Stephen John's family, friends, and co-workers.

[tbbaot]

As some have pointed out Van Brun and Rev. Wright share the same views on Jews. Both were in the US Military. The question is which one is more dangerous? I would say it's Reverend Wright. Van Brun is a one shot hate monger that needs to be locked up for the rest of his short life. Wright is preaching this hatred to hundreds if not thousands of young people that may grow up as future Van Bruns.

[pepperwood2]

"I can no longer disown Rev Wright than I can the Black Community" - Barack Obama
Posted by enriquieGonzales:

Especially in a National Election! Who says you have to fool all the people all the time?? When all you need to do is fool all of them some of the time. cackle cackle cackle

[excoachken]

Sounds like enrique.... is a good candidate to be the next Von Brunn.

[excoachken]

The non-violent approach of Dr. Martin Luther King WAS working. I was there to witness it. In fact it was working so well that the crazy bigots were afraid of there "control" of racism in America. He was assasinated by an organization of southern racists who found a nut-job gun-hugger like Von Brunn to do their dirty work!

[skyk-2009]

I'm sorry but I'm really tired of people trying to compare the black panthers to the other groups. You should really learn a bit. The black panthers only started because MLK was killed and non-violence as an approach to violence was not working. There were actually whites involved in the black panthers and it was created as self-defense against hatred from the other groups and society at large like the police. These are not the same things.

Should people not be able to protect themselves when a society is violent against them?
Posted by whatithink-2009 at 12:53 AM : Jun 12, 2009


You are correct but Modern Day Republican's use them to justify having people like the one's listed in their "Base". In my honest opinion the Republican's MUST do what the Democrats did a long time ago and sever themselves from the Racist and Radical Religious People. The problem the Republican's face is different though in that the Democrats never allowed those people to take over the Party. It's not going to be long otherwise before you see a Third Party forming with Independents and Moderate Republicans outside the South coming to it. We need opposing voices and differing views, not hatred and hostility.

[summarex]

"White supremacists, kkk, bigots, antisemitic, racist...
Just plain wrong!
Burn !
Posted by factsearcher

How about the Black Pathers?
Posted by mccain08nc at 7:00 PM : Jun 11, 2009 "


Please sir, stop hiding behind innocent black folks

[cs4466]

Most of the "evil" in this world can be traced directly back to the insanity of religious dogma. That's just a fact. Religion itself is the biggest "curse" that mankind has ever known. The world would be a much better place without it.
Posted by tanberet at 8:55 PM : Jun 11, 2009

You cannot rely on past misfortunes to judge the now and predict the future. That is the error of your argument.
Posted by stuart2000 at 9:17 PM : Jun 11, 2009

Those who do not listen to the lessons of history are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. A modern day Christian Crusade against Islam is as ill advised now as it was then.

[cs4466]

Religion ("faith") demands that you suspend rational thought, and once you do that, any crazy belief or action is possible.
Posted by tanberet at 9:11 PM : Jun 11, 2009

Absolutely.

[whatithink-2009]

Posted by mccain08nc at 7:00 PM : Jun 11, 2009

- I think you should go on Amazon and take a look at the book "Without Sanctuary."

People were being killed without anyone being prosecuted for the crimes.

Sadistic police could go into neighborhoods and have their ways and the greater society not only didn't care but were supportive of such.

[whatithink-2009]

"White supremacists, kkk, bigots, antisemitic, racist...
Just plain wrong!
Burn !
Posted by factsearcher

How about the Black Pathers?
Posted by mccain08nc at 7:00 PM : Jun 11, 2009 "



I'm sorry but I'm really tired of people trying to compare the black panthers to the other groups. You should really learn a bit. The black panthers only started because MLK was killed and non-violence as an approach to violence was not working. There were actually whites involved in the black panthers and it was created as self-defense against hatred from the other groups and society at large like the police. These are not the same things.

Should people not be able to protect themselves when a society is violent against them?

[YrSoWrong]

This is an excellent time to disarm the general public because of the fear one man has caused. Of course, the same people who demand this disarmed public claim they haven't trusted the government in years. Does "police state" sound familiar, or are you too ideologically locked-in?

[tanberet]

"There are many different religions in this world. I am not sure I know of which you refer to. But I can assure you that Christianity does not promote the suspension of rational thought."

Posted by stuart2000 at 9:31 PM : Jun 11, 2009

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm referring to all of them. But Christianity, Islam and Judaism are clearly responsible for the vast majority of the misery in this world, both in the past, and in the present.

To claim that "Christianity does not promote the suspension of rational thought" is simply preposterous. Religion is all about the suspension of rational thought. That's why they call it "an expression of faith".

There exists not one single shred of evidence, let alone proof, that any of the claims of any religion have any basis at all in reality -- none. If believing in something for which there is absolutely no substantiation whatsoever isn't the classic definition of "suspension of rational thought" then I don't know what is.

[gravyboat3000]

There is an underbelly of right wing, faith based, scared, white folkes in this country.

This is just the beginning.

And Rush is both excusing them, and diverting attention from them by calling Mr. Von Brunn a," leftist".

He hadn't a leftist bone in his 88 year old body.

But one side is politicising EVERYTHING that comes down the pike.

Hey Sarah, how's your 14 year old daughter that Letterman DIDN'T talk about?

She and Todd are the perfect faces of the Republican party.

Bold face liars, with a smile...