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Holocaust museum shooter Von Brunn dies

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:37:00 +0000

James Von Brunn, the white supremacist accused of shooting and killing a guard at the Holocaust museum last year, has died, the Associated Press reports. He was 89.

Von Brunn was wounded during the June attack, but had survived those injuries; it's not yet clear if they played a role in his death or whether his chronic medical problems and age were to blame. Initial reports had Von Brunn dying at the prison hospital where he was being held, but a spokeswoman for the prison said he was pronounced dead at a local hospital in North Carolina.

For more on Von Brunn and his long, disturbing history with white supremacy, see Salon's previous coverage of him and the shooting here.

Update: The Holocaust museum put out this statement in the wake of Von Brunn's death:

The Museum’s thoughts and prayers continue to be with Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns’ family at this time. Officer Johns died heroically defending the Museum, visitors and staff. This tragedy is a powerful reminder that our cause of fighting hatred remains more urgent than ever.

FBI says child porn found on Von Brunn’s computer

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:35:00 +0000

More sad, but in a way unsurprising, news from the ongoing saga surrounding alleged Holocaust Museum shooter James Von Brunn. The Associated Press is reporting that, in a search of a computer taken from Von Brunn's home, the FBI found child porn.

The court documents don't give any further details about the nature of the material, or the quantity, and it's not necessarily the 88-year-old's computer. But if it is, and if it turns out he was seeking out child porn, it would be just one more piece in Von Brunn's already long and disturbing history. His story seems to have ended in tragedy, with the death of a museum guard, but it provides a fascinating, though chilling, psychological portrait of a man consumed by demons and lost in his own hatred.

Von Brunn remains hospitalized; he was shot in the face during the museum attack, but the FBI believes he will live. Court proceedings have begun, but are likely to be delayed for his recovery, and the odds that he'll ever actually face trial seem slim -- a judge would have to find him competent first.

Wingnut, why are angry white guys shooting people?

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:03:00 +0000

Dear Wingnut,

It seems like a lot of white guys have gone nuts with their guns since Barack Obama became president. Is there any connection between his election and the shooting of George Tiller, the Pittsburgh shooting and the Holocaust Museum attack? Or do you think the DHS report is "crap" too?

Hello again. This week the editors have asked me to explain if conservatives think there is a connection between Barack Obama's election and the recent murders of Kansas abortion Dr. George Tiller, three Pittsburgh policemen, and Wednesday's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and if these acts of violence have caused them to reassess the Department of Homeland Security's recent report on right-wing extremism.

I know this is going to provoke a heated response from a lot of people who read this column, so let me begin by saying that I, and every conservative I know, condemn the murders of Tiller, Pittsburgh police officers Paul Sciullo II, Eric Kelly and Stephen Mayhle, and Holocaust Museum guard Stephen Johns.

There is no reason, no excuse, nothing that can be said or written that would justify these senseless acts.

The politics of assassination

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:12:00 +0000

Acts of madness like the killing of George Tiller and Stephen T. Johns can be too easily dismissed as the work of disturbed individuals and then subsumed in the usual rumble of recrimination between left and right. But if we are to understand the deeper implications of those acts of murder, what must be examined is their origin in the shadow world of white nationalism.

Nobody knows more about the movements that spawned the alleged gunmen than Leonard Zeskind, who has spent most of a lifetime observing, analyzing and opposing racism and anti-Semitism in America and abroad. Now he has distilled those hard and dangerous decades of work into "Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement From the Margins to the Mainstream," a magisterial new book that explains how and why racial hatred became and remains a significant political force in American society.

Report: Von Brunn targeted Weekly Standard

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:10:00 +0000

James Von Brunn, the 88-year-old man who allegedly shot and killed a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum on Wednesday, was reportedly carrying a long list of potential targets at the time of the attack. Among the names on it are some that may surprise a few people, including the Weekly Standard and a Fox News office.

Politico's Ben Smith reports that the Standard, a conservative magazine founded by Bill Kristol, got a visit from FBI agents yesterday, and that the agents told staffers they'd found the office address on a piece of paper "associated with" Von Brunn.

Separately, a Fox affiliate reports that during a search of Von Brunn's car, law enforcement found a notebook that contained information about "six to nine locations in the D.C. area," including what's described only as "a Fox News location," the White House, the Capitol, the Washington Post and, of course, the Holocaust Museum.

Can right-wing hate talk lead to murder?

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:11:00 +0000

I was on "Hardball" today talking about the climate of extreme right-wing rhetoric today, and whether it had anything to do with Wednesday's tragic shooting at Washington's Holocaust Museum, or the May 31 murder of Dr. George Tiller by an antiabortion crackpot.

I tried to choose my words carefully. Unless it's shown that either man had accomplices, we have to be clear that the men responsible for those murders are the ones who pulled the trigger. Still, it's hard not to think about the extreme right-wing rhetoric, especially about Barack Obama, and whether it could conceivably lead to more right-wing violence. You can see whether I succeeded here (more text follows the video):

Right: DHS extremist report was “crap.” Really?

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:11:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — A couple of months ago, the Department of Homeland Security issued a detailed report, in the works for months, warning that right-wing hate groups might find a fertile environment these days. The country's first black president had taken office during an economic downturn that some white supremacists have blamed on a Jewish banking cabal.

At the time, conservatives practically climbed over each other in their rush to denounce it as alarmist and unfair. "There is not one instance they can cite as evidence where any of these right-wing groups have done anything," Rush Limbaugh raged on his radio show on April 14, when news of the report came out a week after it was written.

That was then, before a violent, anti-Semitic white supremacist assaulted the Holocaust Museum with a shotgun, killing a security guard. Which, of course, happened less than two weeks after a radical anti-choice zealot murdered abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in his Kansas church. Suddenly, that DHS report doesn't look so alarmist, after all.

Obama: Shooting a reminder to fight anti-Semitism, all prejudice

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:45:00 +0000

The White House has released a statement from President Barack Obama on the shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, which claimed the life of a security guard who was working there:

I am 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. 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.

Today, we have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time.

Report: White Supremacist opens fire at Holocaust Memorial

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:40:00 +0000

At just before 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, a man walked into the U.S. Holocaust Museum, pulled out a shotgun and fired at a private security guard, who returned fire. By the time it was over, five shots had been fired and two men -- the guard and the shooter -- had been wounded and were taken to the hospital.

The suspect has been identified as James W. von Brunn, an 88-year-old man with a lengthy record of anti-Semitic and conspiracist writings on the Internet, as well as a history of taking armed action against those he saw as enemies.

On his Web site, Holy Western Empire, von Brunn writes of himself:

James W. von Brunn holds a BachSci Journalism degree from a mid-Western university where he was president of SAE and played varsity football.

During WWII he served as PT-Boat captain, Lt. USNR, receiving a Commendation and four battle stars. For twenty years he was an advertising executive and film-producer in New York City. He is a member of Mensa, the high-IQ society.

In 1981 Von Brunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest. He was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal. He served 6.5 years in federal prison. He is now an artist and author and lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Holocaust Museum guard dies

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:30:00 +0000

A guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum who was allegedly shot by James Von Brunn has died, the Associated Press reports. The AP identifies the guard as Stephen Tyrone Johns and says he worked at the museum for six years.

Separately, the Washington Post reports that police found, on Von Brunn's person, a notebook listing more than 100 "targets." Details on those locations have not been made public, but authorities are apparently responding to them, using bomb-sniffing dogs.

James W. Von Brunn’s anti-Semitic screed

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:11:00 +0000

James W. Von Brunn, the man who allegedly charged into the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and opened fire on Wednesday, was a brooding anti-Semite. If the title of his 2002 book, "Kill the Best Gentiles," isn't evidence enough, the table of contents is a roadmap of delusion. Chapters include "The Conspiracy," "Khazars Invent Judaism," "The Illuminati," "Money," "Spirochetes of Jew Syphilis," "The 'Holocaust' Hoax," "Mendelism," "The Negro," "The Aryan Force," "Parasitism USA," "Pathology and Synthesis," "Summing Up." The book is available for download through this anti-Semitic Web site and published by Holy Western Empire (HWE) LLC.

Here is the text of the preface:

When James Von Brunn tried to arrest the Fed

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:25:00 +0000

James von Brunn, the man who allegedly opened fire at the U.S. Holocaust Museum on Wednesday, killing a guard, has acted on his beliefs before. In 1981, he tried to place members of the Federal Reserve Board under citizen's arrest, but the attempt ended in his own arrest and imprisonment.

In 1983, a D.C. Superior Court jury convicted Von Brunn of attempting kidnapping while armed, second-degree burglary, assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a pistol without a license and possession of a prohibited weapon. A Washington Post article on the conviction describes the incident, saying, "Von Brunn entered the board's headquarters at 21st Street and Constitution Avenue NW with a bag slung over his shoulder. He was captured by a guard after running to the second floor, where the board was meeting. He was detained outside the board room and was carrying a revolver, a hunting knife and a sawed-off shotgun." (A shotgun was also reportedly used in the attack on Wednesday.)

On his Web site, Von Brunn, a veteran of World War II published a letter he wrote from prison to then-Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb, asking Webb's help in getting him a pardon or commutation from President Reagan. In that letter, Von Brunn gives his version of what happened, and his intentions: