WASHINGTON - An elderly Maryland man with a long history of ties to neo-Nazi organizations walked into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday and opened fire, killing a security guard, law enforcement officials said.
The shooter was shot in the face by museum security and was in critical condition Wednesday night at a Washington hospital, according to The Washington Post.
An FBI official said the shooter had been identified as James W. von Brunn, who was described by the Anti-Defamation League and other followers of hate groups as a longtime white supremacist and anti-Semite.
Police said the security guard, Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39, a six-year veteran of the facility who lived in Temple Hills, died after being taken to nearby George Washington University Hospital. Museum Director Sara Bloomfield said he "died heroically in the line of duty."
The museum will be closed today in tribute to Johns. Bloomfield said flags at the museum have been lowered to half-staff in his honor.
The attack inside the museum, as described by bystanders and authorities, turned the crowded building and Washington's nearby tourist-thronged Mall into a scene of fear and chaos, with black-clad SWAT teams, hovering helicopters and racing emergency vehicles. Stunned witnesses described a fusillade of gunfire - five shots or more - the blood-streaked floor and the screams of frightened visitors inside the museum and on the street.
"It's like a scene from a movie," said Edward Bhopa, 54.
"A horror movie," added his son Andy, 28.
Police recovered a notebook in the suspect's possession that apparently contained a list of district locations, including Washington National Cathedral. Police bomb squads were sent to at least 10 sites.
Von Brunn, 88, was described as a close and longtime associate of some prominent neo-Nazi organizations and as someone who has railed against Jews and blacks for decades. A call to von Brunn's house near Annapolis was not answered.
President Barack Obama, who recently condemned Holocaust deniers in a speech, issued a statement saying he was "shocked and saddened by today's 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."
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."
