A man who authorities said had ties to hate groups walked into the Holocaust Museum Wednesday afternoon and opened fire with a .22 caliber rifle, killing a security guard before he was shot by two other guards.
Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39, who worked at the museum for six years, died after being taken to George Washington University Hospital. Another security guard was mildly injured by flying glass.
Police sources identified the attacker as James W. von Brunn, 88, from Maryland. He has ties to white supremacist groups and was on a U.S. Secret Service watch list, sources said. He was in critical condition last night at George Washington hospital.
Police said they found a notebook in von Brunn’s possession that listed 100 “targets,” a law enforcement source said. On Wednesday afternoon, authorities visited each target with bomb-sniffing dogs, but found no explosives.
Von Brunn walked into the museum shortly before 1 p.m. and immediately started shooting, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said.
The incident turned the National Mall into chaos as a SWAT team stormed the museum and tourists fled.
Tourists visiting the museum could hear the gunfire, and reacted quickly.
Daniel Romano, 67, said he was walking on the third floor when he heard pops and looked down to see people diving to the floor in the lobby. A security guard told the Massachusetts man to vacate the building through a fire exit and “to keep running to the Washington Monument,” he said.
Mark Lippert was visiting from Illinois and said he heard four or five gunshots and then saw three kids running. “By the looks on their faces, I knew something had happened,” Lippert said, adding that he and his fiancee then tried to leave. They went to a fire exit, but the door didn’t open for about 15 seconds. “It felt like an eternity,” he said.
“I am shocked and saddened by today’s shooting,” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms.”
The Holocaust Museum contains exhibits and artifacts related to the killing of six million Jews and millions of others by Nazis during World War II. In 1983, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush designated land for the museum, declaring “here we will learn that each of us bears responsibility for our actions and our failure to act.”
U.S. Park Police, the District police and a contingent of FBI agents are investigating the incident. The museum will not open Thursday and flags will be at half mast in Johns’ memory.
Maria Schmitt contributed to this report.
