By Calvin Palmer
An elderly gunman managed to evade the security measures at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and exchanged shots with security guards today, killing one of them.
U.S. Park Police Sgt David Schlosser said a gunman walked into the museum with what he described as “long gun” and opened fire on the security guards.
The assailant and his victim were both hospitalized, said Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty, who added that the gunman was in critical condition. The guard later died.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the gunman appeared to have acted alone. He was “engaged by security guards immediately after entering the door” with a rifle, she said. “The second he stepped into the building he began firing.”
One law enforcement official said James Von Brunn, a white supremacist, was under investigation in the shooting, and a second official said the elderly man’s car was found near the museum and tested for explosives.
Von Brunn, 89, has a racist, anti-Semitic Web site and wrote a book titled “Kill the Best Gentile”.
The museum, just off the National Mall near the Washington Monument, normally has a heavy security presence with guards positioned both inside and outside. All visitors are required to pass through metal detectors at the entrance, and bags are screened.
Roads surrounding the museum have been closed and blocked off with yellow tape. Several police cars and officers on horses surround the area.
Mark Lippert of Lasalle, Ill., said he was at the museum when he heard several loud pops and saw several schoolchildren running toward him, three with horrified looks on their faces.
He said he knew someone had been shot when he saw the kid’s faces.
Linda Elston, from Nevada City, Calif., said she was on the lower level of the museum watching a film when she and others were told to evacuate.
“It was totally full of people,” Elston said. “It took us a while to get out.”
She did not hear any shots and did not immediately know why there was an evacuation.
[Based on reports by the Associated Press, newsday.com and The Daily Telegraph.]
