United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting | |
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Deaths | 1[3] |
Injured | 2 (including the perpetrator)[4][5] |
Perpetrator | James Wenneker von Brunn[3] |
Motive | Antisemitism, Holocaust denial |
Part of a series on |
Antisemitism |
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Category |
At approximately 12:50 p.m. on June 10, 2009, 88-year-old James Wenneker von Brunn entered the
Von Brunn was charged in federal court on June 11, 2009, with
Von Brunn was a
Background
The Holocaust Museum has previously been a target of white supremacist terrorism since its establishment in 1993. In 2002,
Shooting
At about 12:49 p.m., 88-year-old James von Brunn
In total, 11 shots were fired during the incident (three from von Brunn and eight from Weeks and McCuiston).[20]
Immediate aftermath
The Washington Post reported that "if it weren't for the quick response of the private guards on duty, more people could have been killed or wounded." Mayor Adrian Fenty stated that the officers' efforts "to bring this gunman down so quickly ... saved the lives of countless people... This could have been much, much worse."[21] Inside, the museum was crowded with visiting schoolchildren.[4] Museum officials said that "the entire incident unfolded in approximately two minutes."[22]
After the shooting, the nearby
Police said they found a notebook on von Brunn that contained a list of District locations, including the
The FBI and Washington, D.C. police chief
Witnesses
Present at the museum during the shooting was former
Possible motives
Several news agencies have noted the timing of the June 10 shooting; it came shortly after Obama's June 5 visit to and speech at the Buchenwald concentration camp,[30] and that "President Obama’s recent visit to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp, in Germany, may have set off the shooter."[31]
On his website, von Brunn stated that his conviction in the 1980s was by "a
Victim
Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns (October 4, 1969 – June 10, 2009), a
Perpetrator
James von Brunn | |
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St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | |
Died | January 6, 2010 Butner, North Carolina, U.S. | (aged 89)
Occupation(s) | Advertising executive and producer, author |
Criminal status | Deceased |
Conviction(s) | Burglary, assault, weapons charges, and attempted kidnapping |
Criminal penalty | Imprisonment of six and a half years |
Von Brunn was born in
Von Brunn enrolled in
In the early 1970s, Von Brunn briefly worked for Noontide Press, the publishing arm of the Holocaust-denying Institute for Historical Review.[38]
Von Brunn's arrest history dates back at least as far as the middle 1960s. In 1968, he received a six-month jail sentence in Maryland for fighting with a sheriff during an incident at the county jail.[39] He had earlier been arrested for driving under the influence following an altercation at a local restaurant in 1966.[40]
Von Brunn was arrested in 1981 for attempted kidnapping[41] and hostage-taking[42] of members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors after approaching the Federal Reserve's Eccles Building armed with a revolver, knife, and sawed-off shotgun.[43][44] Von Brunn later described his actions as a "citizen's arrest for treason."[42][41] He reportedly complained of "high interest rates" during the incident and was disarmed without any shots being fired, after threatening a security guard with a .38 caliber pistol.[45] He reportedly claimed he had a bomb, which was found to be only a device designed to look like a bomb.[46] He was convicted in 1983 for burglary, assault, weapons charges, and attempted kidnapping.[42] Von Brunn's sentence was completed by September 15, 1989,[47] after he had served six and a half years in prison.[48] After he was released he successfully tested for and joined Mensa International; however, he was eventually dropped from membership for failing to pay his annual dues.[49]
Von Brunn was a member of the American Friends of the British National Party, a group that raised funds in the United States for the far right and "rights for whites" British National Party (BNP). The group had been addressed on at least two occasions by Nick Griffin, an ex-member of the National Front and chairman of the BNP.[50] A BNP spokesperson claimed after the shooting that the party had "never heard of" von Brunn.[51]
In 2004 and 2005 he lived in Hayden Lake, Idaho, the town where Aryan Nations—a neo-Nazi organization led by Richard Butler—was based until 2001.[36] Von Brunn was living in Annapolis, Maryland at the time of the incident.[36]
After the shooting, federal authorities raided his apartment and seized a rifle, ammunition, computers, a handwritten
Von Brunn was charged in federal court on June 11, 2009, with
Von Brunn had the Federal Bureau of Prisons ID# 07128-016 and was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina.[57] On January 6, 2010, von Brunn died in a hospital located near the prison.[58] According to a statement by his attorney, von Brunn had "a long history of poor health," including sepsis and chronic congestive heart failure.[59]
Reaction
The
The Southern Poverty Law Center, Anti-Defamation League, and FBI stated they had been monitoring von Brunn's Internet postings, but were unable to take action because his comments had not crossed the line from free speech into illegal threats or incitement.[62][63]
On June 11, 2009, the
On the white nationalist Internet forum Stormfront, some users criticized von Brunn's actions, saying they hurt the forum's cause. Others supported him in threads that were later removed, some of which later reappeared.[67]
See also
- Antisemitism in the United States in the 21st-century
- List of attacks on Jewish institutions in the United States
References
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{{cite news}}
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External links
- "Kill the Best Gentiles!", James von Brunn's book
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum official website
- "In Memoriam: Stephen Tyrone Johns", by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Voices on Antisemitism interview with Scott Simon, by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- "James von Brunn's personal website". Archived from the original on December 16, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - Criminal Complaint U.S. v. von Brunn (June 11, 2009), by FindLaw
- "James Von Brunn: An ADL Backgrounder Beliefs and Activities", by the Anti-Defamation League
- Statement by Erik von Brunn, by ABC News