Michelle Malkin » Shooting at National Holocaust Museum Updated: Museum guard dies; shooter wasn’t “left” or “right,” just plain loony

Shooting at National Holocaust Museum Updated: Museum guard dies; shooter wasn’t “left” or “right,” just plain loony

By Michelle Malkin • June 10, 2009 01:32 PM

Scroll for updates…

Details just coming in.

Via FoxNews: “At least two people were shot at the national Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, an official told FOX News. Other media reports said a man walked into the museum and shot a security guard. Another guard returned fire, wounding the alleged shooter. ”

AP bulletin here.

Tom Elia is tracking.

***

Update: The shooter…

The suspect in Wednesday’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is James von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist from Maryland, two law enforcement officials told CNN.

Von Brunn served six years in prison on federal attempted kidnapping, assault and firearms charges after what he called a citizen’s “legal, nonviolent citizens arrest” of members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

On his Web site, “Holy Western Empire,” von Brunn said he was “convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge.”

“He is in our files going back way into the 1980s,” said Heidi Beirich, a researcher for the Montgomery, Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center.

“He has extremely long history with neo-Nazis and white supremacists. He’s written extremely incendiary publications, raging about Jews, blacks and the like.”

The suspect and a security guard were wounded in Wednesday afternoon’s shooting at the museum, U.S. Park Police said.

District of Columbia police and the FBI said the shooting appeared to have been the work of a single gunman and there was no prior indication of the attack.

***

Inevitable: The blame game has already begun. Here’s Kos implicating the Tea Party movement.

Ditto Donald Douglas: “The spin on the left is that the suspect, James Von Brunn, is an agent of the GOP’s “Christian-fascist” base. The truth is, via Melissa Clouthier, this guy’s a deranged Holocaust denier. He represents no one on the conservative right – not me, nor any of those with whom I associate.”

Melissa Clouthier: “Remember, Markos, it’s our President who is wanting to meet with another Holocaust denier, President Ahmadinejad.”

Francis Beckwith notes that Von Brunn was an all-inclusive nutball hater who bashed both Jews and Christians.

Milblogger Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette notes the veteran-bashing claims of vindication by reporters citing the DHS right-wing extremism report. (Aside: Has anyone actually verified the lunatic gunman’s claims that he is a veteran? Update: Verified here according to Navy records.)

***

Update: Heroic museum guard dies. Keep him in your prayers:

The security guard who was initially targeted was wounded; he was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where he died from his injuries, high level D.C. police sources told ABC 7’s Jennifer Donelan.

Sources say the gunman remains in critical condition at George Washington University Hospital.

The guard’s name was Stephen Tyrone Johns. Don’t forget.

***

More from Kathy Shaidle about the shooter — a 9/11 Truther who hated “neo-cons:”

The man accused of opening fire at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC on June 10, James W. von Brunn, left a trail of unhinged writings around the internet.

The anti-semitism of von Brunn is the first thing one notices when visiting these bizarre websites. However, like those of most “white supremacists”, many of von Brunn’s political views track “Left” rather than “Right.” Clearly, a re-evaluation of these obsolete definitions is long overdue.

For example, he unleashed his hatred of both Presidents Bush and other “neo-conservatives” in online essays. As even some “progressives” such as the influential Adbusters magazine publicly admit, “neoconservative” is often used as a derogatory code word for “Jews”. As well, even a cursory glance at “white supremacist” writings reveals a hatred of, say, big corporations that is virtually indistinguishable from that of anti-globalization activists.

James von Brunn’s advocacy of 9/11 conspiracy theories also gives him an additional commonality with individuals on the far-left.

***

Erick Erickson:

Kos and the lunatic gunman today and the lunatic gunman who killed Pvt. Long share more in common that the rest of us — their world view is centered on contempt for what this nation stands for and are consumed with an abiding hatred of George W. Bush and the “neocons.”

Geoffrey Dickens at Newsbusters:

Salon.com Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh, on Wednesday night’s “Hardball,” cited “conservatives” like Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin and Bill O’Reilly for “whipping up” a climate that sparks the likes of alleged Holocaust Museum shooter James Von Brunn and “Hardball” host Chris Matthews wondered if access to guns were to blame for the tragedy as he cried, “It’s easier to get your hands on a gun than to get somebody to make you a waffle.”

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#717601

On June 11th, 2009 at 1:09 am, Ragspierre said:

Chaps:

Your post are decidedly nastier than I am used to from you.

Is it unreasonable for me to post a reminder on this thread of a largely over-looked story of Islamic terrorism? I often do post topical but off-topic bits here.

Is is any less reasonable for posters here to speculate as to the antecedents of the killer guilty of today’s crimes than those on Hufferpro or Kos?

And, given this killer’s proclivities, is he not allied in his hatred of the selfsame people with our Islamic enemies? He would kill Jews and Christians with the same abandon as would they, would he not…did he not?
#717602

On June 11th, 2009 at 1:15 am, Jet Jaguar said:

Chap,
You are very sharp and prolific. I do sense that you care more about truth than giving yourself blindly to one cause or the other. I respect that. As far as I’m concerned, your opinion carries weight on this blog. You really challenge others to think about their positions. Keep it up!
#717607

On June 11th, 2009 at 1:47 am, AlohaGuy said:

How come this guy is a “right-wing extremist” and Bill Ayers is “just a guy in the neighborhood”?
#717609

On June 11th, 2009 at 1:53 am, AlohaGuy said:

Your post are decidedly nastier than I am used to from you.

Say no more
#717610

On June 11th, 2009 at 2:00 am, Jet Jaguar said:

On June 11th, 2009 at 1:53 am, AlohaGuy said:

Your post are decidedly nastier than I am used to from you.

Say no more

hic… I’m for that.

p.s. I love you all more than the universe… (a favorite quote from my inebriated sister)
#717629

On June 11th, 2009 at 5:01 am, frontierguy said:

Sorry. I believe you somehow mistook my post for one making a comparison between Christianity and Islam and me for someone that gives a crap about either religion.

Do you notice that people who claim to be anti religion always end up in arguments bringing up the crusades and how evil christianity is and defend islam? Everyone who says they don’t care about organized religion always bring this up to me.
#717630

On June 11th, 2009 at 5:13 am, frontierguy said:

I also saw on Huff&Puff that the guy is an anti semite so he is right winger. If I hated the Jews so much, I would be a left winger. It is weird, they have disdain for someone who is a racist anti-semite crazy guy so they can rail against “right wingers”, however will scream for the complete destruction of Israel because the country had the nerve to defend itself against rocket attacks or recognize the danger of an Iran that possesses nukes. No one seems to have the hate the Jews play down more than the lefties. That actually includes many Jewish Americans, however one I know who voted for Obama now says it was a mistake since he thinks now it is a disaster for Israel, I agree.
#717631

On June 11th, 2009 at 5:24 am, frontierguy said:

Chaps:
Your post are decidedly nastier than I am used to from you.

Rags, you must still be pretty new. Chaps has a habit of getting nasty then try to cover it up. Aside from wasting a lot of posting time talking about his favorite foods or drinks or clothes or whatever, I mean a lot of posts wasted that you have to wade through if you are looking to read comments, he is a typical liberal, he thinks of nothing of telling other posters how stupid they are. I noticed though, since you have been around and took him to school on litigation and proper argument techniques in front of a jury, he does not seem to try to show us all how lawyerly he is anymore.
#717668

On June 11th, 2009 at 8:38 am, chapoutier said:

Your post are decidedly nastier than I am used to from you.

Rags, My post was not meant to disparage you or Misscheryl or anyone else who was speculating early on about the identity of the shooter. By all means, speculate away. But lets not pretend it was anything other than that. I just get annoyed when people get all high and mighty (as crashemt did) when the liberals here do it.

At the risk of proving frontierguy’s little dig at me below correct, I will issue one caveat/correction. When I said I did not care about either Christianity or Islam, I was speaking from a theological and metaphysical sense. I find them both equally invalid. However, no doubt that as a societal force, Islam is today much more destructive and detrimental to peace.

Chaps has a habit of getting nasty then try to cover it up.

Ask Wareagle or atheling or any number of a handful of posters around here if I try to cover up my nastiness toward them.

I noticed though, since you have been around and took him to school on litigation and proper argument techniques in front of a jury, he does not seem to try to show us all how lawyerly he is anymore.

Clearly you missed the nice little conversation Rags and I recently had regarding GM dealerships and contract law.
#717670

On June 11th, 2009 at 8:43 am, englishqueen01 said:

I don’t see any leeway here if there’s an option of life imprisonment. And obviously, the Vatican has adamently opposed the Iraq war from the start.

Um, the phrase “does not exclude” is leeway.

And while the Church did not support the Iraq war, it was not official teaching that we too oppose it. Unlike abortion and contraception, which are absolute official teachings.
#717679

On June 11th, 2009 at 8:57 am, Misscheryl said:

Rags, My post was not meant to disparage you or Misscheryl or anyone else who was speculating early on about the identity of the shooter. By all means, speculate away. But lets not pretend it was anything other than that.

Hi Chap – I wondered where you were. Good point and in the same vein – people are just people. Nature is what it is and when it comes down to it, both sides do what they accuse the other of doing (you and I included) and both sides believe their cause is more just. Bottom line is, people are just a shadow of what we were created to be. Our little weaknesses and passions keep us down. We are slaves to them.

I’ve witnessed as many others have, Hilton calling Miss California viscious names because she didn’t believe the way he does, but don’t even think of calling him a perverted fag. I’ve seen Christians condemn and judge (myself included) others while we are taught over and over that’s not our job…..we are all just people, no more and no less.
#717693

On June 11th, 2009 at 9:12 am, englishqueen01 said:

And, via What’s Wrong with the World, this nut-job was also vehemently anti-Christian (which kind of dispels the notion that Christians are anti-Semitic, because then this nutter would have loved us). From some of his crazy ramblings:

As duped Aryan sheep begin to understand the “Holocaust” they also begin to better understand Christianity. Both have similar origins. Both have identical objectives….

The Gospels profess that only Christians may enter Yahweh’s Kingdom of Heaven. To qualify, among other demands, Christians must LOVE THEIR ENEMIES (Jews); give away their personal belongings; eschew knowledge; judge not, despise nature, abandon earthly pleasures, acknowledge that all YHWH’s children are equal; and above all else worship YHWH, the jealous, wrathful, vengeful, unforgiving, genocidal, anthropomorphic tribal god (Jesus’ father) created by Hebrews in their image and likeness. Omnipotent, omniscient YHWH promises Hebrews that they alone shall inherit the earth, that it is commendable to steal from Gentiles, better yet — kill them. Whereas Gentiles, if they fail to worship YHWH, are transported straight to Hell. And it is written, “A little child shall lead them.”

These dangerous, imbecilic, concepts, tenets, and teachings, often treasonous, DESTROYED the Roman Empire and drenched the soil of Europe with Aryan blood for almost 2000 years!

The Big Lie technique, employed by Paul to create the CHRISTIAN RELIGION, also was used to create the HOLOCAUST RELIGION … CHRISTIANITY AND THE HOLOCAUST are HOAXES.

“Christianity” destroyed Roman Civilization. The “Holocaust” Religion is destroying Western Civilization. The Aryan gene-pool dies, “unwept, unhonored and unsung.”

I agree with Kathy Shaidle:

The anti-semitism of von Brunn is the first thing one notices when visiting these bizarre websites. However, like those of most “white supremacists”, many of von Brunn’s political views track “Left” rather than “Right.” Clearly, a re-evaluation of these obsolete definitions is long overdue.
#717702

On June 11th, 2009 at 9:19 am, sonofdy said:

The more I read about this guy, the more I think he would fit right into huffpo and the dailykos rather than here.
#717774

On June 11th, 2009 at 10:19 am, jsmiddleton4 said:

“make a waffle…”

Seems to me Chris Matthews is not having ANY trouble finding the waffles.
#717803

On June 11th, 2009 at 10:38 am, chep said:

Nutcases. Daily Kos. All of them.
#717836

On June 11th, 2009 at 11:09 am, right_on said:

Chris Matthews wondered if access to guns were to blame for the tragedy as he cried, “It’s easier to get your hands on a gun than to get somebody to make you a waffle.”

Some thoughts about this liberal hater, and spark thrower:

1) He can make the above kind of statement because he has,

a) bought a gun recently
(which would tend to confirm his hypocrisy)
b) recently bought a gun illegally, off the street.
c) waffles seem to be the favorite breakfast of progressives (you are what you eat.)

You just knew the left couldn’t resist blaming guns for this crime. These fascists have many tools, and this blowhard leads the pack.