FBI Finds Child Porn On Holocaust Museum Suspect's Home Computer

Washington Post-----

Authorities discovered child pornography on a computer used by James W. von Brunn, the 88-year-old white supremacist accused of killing a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum last week, according to court documents filed by the FBI.

FBI agents said they recovered the desktop computer during a search of the Annapolis apartment where von Brunn had lived for the past two years. The pornography was disclosed in a search warrant affidavit seeking to make a more thorough inspection of the computer. Authorities did not disclose the type or extent of the child pornography they found on the computer during their first search.

Agents also recovered from the apartment a 30-30 rifle, other computers, floppy discs, memory cards, cellphones, a handwritten will and what appeared to be a painting of Hitler and Jesus, they wrote in court papers.

Meanwhile, agents disclosed in other court filings that they had recovered 35 rounds of ammunition, a disabled parking permit and a salt shaker in a search of the car von Brunn allegedly double-parked outside the museum just before the shooting June 10.

Federal authorities have charged von Brunn with shooting Stephen T. Johns in the chest with a rifle shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday at the museum's 14th Street entrance. Two other guards returned fire, and von Brunn was struck in the face, authorities said. He is being treated at George Washington University Hospital. A hearing has been scheduled for Monday to update a federal judge on his medical status.

uthorities searched von Brunn's car early June 11 and recovered a variety of items. Those included store receipts, business cards advertising his Web site, www.holywesternempire.org, a roll of quarters totaling $7.25 and mouthwash, according to the court papers filed yesterday in the District's federal court.

Authorities also seized live .22-caliber ammunition, the records show. They said that von Brunn shot Johns with a .22-caliber rifle.

In the car, authorities wrote in court papers, they also recovered a handwritten note that said "the Holocaust is a lie. Obama was created by the Jews." Under the writing in the notebook was the signature, "James W. von Brunn," agents wrote in court documents.


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James Von Brunn, Holocaust Museum Gunman Is Charged With Murder

Huffington Post----

WASHINGTON — An 88-year-old white supremacist was charged with murder Thursday, a day after he left a signed anti-Semitic screed in his car outside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum, then gunned down a security guard who opened the door to let him in, officials said.

Guard Stephen T. Johns was shot to death Wednesday by Holocaust denier James von Brunn, who left his car outside an entrance to the museum and walked in holding a rifle at his side, District Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at a news conference.

Von Brunn started shooting immediately, exchanging fire with two other guards who shot and critically injured him, Lanier said.

In his car, officers found a notebook with a handwritten note that read, "You want my weapons _ this is how you'll get them. The Holocaust is a lie. Obama was created by Jews," according to a court affidavit.

Von Brunn's .22-caliber rifle held 10 more bullets and investigators found more in his car and at an apartment in Annapolis, Md., that he shared with son and his son's fiancee. Security guards fired at von Brunn at least eight times, hitting him in the face.

The museum remained closed Thursday and flags flew at half-staff in honor of Johns, 39, who had worked at the museum for six years. Bouquets of roses, lilies and other flowers were left outside the museum walls. The entrance where the shooting occurred was still cordoned off by police tape.

Von Brunn, who tried to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve decades ago, remained in critical condition Thursday at a Washington hospital. A self-described artist, advertising man and author, he wrote an anti-Semitic treatise, "Kill the Best Gentiles," decried "the browning of America" and claimed to expose a Jewish conspiracy "to destroy the White gene-pool." He also wrote of a lifetime of seething anger.

"It's better to be strong than right," he said in one of his dark online postings, "unless you like dying. Crowds hate good guys."

Von Brunn was charged with murder and killing in the course of possessing a firearm at a federal facility, both capital offenses under federal law, and authorities said Thursday hate crime charges were also possible. Johns was black.

"We know what Mr. von Brunn did yesterday at the Holocaust museum. Now it's our responsibility to determine why he did it," said Joseph Persichini, assistant director of the Washington FBI field office.

The Homeland Security Department said the shooting does not appear to have a connection to terrorism, according to a joint Homeland Security and FBI assessment, though Persichini characterized it as "domestic terrorism."

He said authorities have contacted or visited any people or places named in documents found in von Brunn's car. Authorities searched the red 2002 Hyundai for explosives, but found none.

The attack unfolded in a public space filled with records, photographs and exhibits about the Nazis' killing of more than 6 million Jews in the Holocaust more than a half-century ago.

The museum was crowded with schoolchildren and other tourists, but all escaped injury.

Ashley Camp, 14, of Forsyth, Ill., on a field trip with more than 40 other students, said she heard two or three gunshots and a security guard ordered the group to run to the exit.

"We had to sprint as fast as we could out the door," she said.

Von Brunn was sentenced in 1983 for attempted armed kidnapping and other charges in his 1981 bid to seize Fed board members. A guard captured him outside the room where the board was meeting. He had a revolver, sawed-off shotgun and knife in a bag with him. He served more than six years in prison.

"The subject resides in my memory like old road-kill," he wrote of the capture. "What could have been a slam-bang victory turned into ignoble failure."

Von Brunn is a native of St. Louis, a World War II veteran who served in the Navy, worked in advertising in New York City and moved to Maryland's Eastern Shore in the late 1960s, where he stayed in advertising and tried to make a mark as an artist.

Public records show that in 2004 and 2005 he lived briefly in Hayden, Idaho, for years home to the Aryan Nations, a racist group run by neo-Nazi Richard Butler.

Civil rights groups were familiar with his history.

"We've been tracking this guy for decades," said Heidi Beirich, director of research for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, which tracks hate crimes. "He thinks the Jews control the Federal Reserve, the banking system, that basically all Jews are evil."

His Internet writings say the Holocaust was a hoax. "At Auschwitz the 'Holocaust' myth became Reality, and Germany, cultural gem of the West, became a pariah among world nations," he wrote.

The attack was the third unsettling shooting that appeared to have political underpinnings.

A 23-year-old Army private, William Andrew Long, was shot and killed outside a recruiting office this month in Arkansas and a fellow soldier wounded. The suspect, a Muslim convert, has said he considers the killing justified because of the U.S. military presence in the Middle East.

Late last month, abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was shot to death in his church. The man accused of killing him is a longtime vocal opponent of abortion.


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White House Releases President Obama's Statements On Today's Holocaust Museum Shootings

NJDC----

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said he told Obama about the shooting. Gibbs later told reporters he gave Obama the facts as they were known at the time, shortly after shots were fired. Gibbs says the White House was receiving regular updates from the FBI, Homeland Security Council and the Situation Room.”

President Obama's statements:

“I am shocked and saddened by today’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum," said in the statement released Wednesday night. "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.”

Sources: National Jewish Democratic Council, Politico, Flickr

Recent DHS Report Warned Of Racial Hatred, Anti-Semitic Violence....Possible Anger Over Pres. Obama's Election

Huffington Post----


A heavily criticized Department of Homeland Security Report on right-wing extremism that was released in April warned precisely of the type of violent anti-Semitic activity that occurred at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.

Early this afternoon, a man in his late-80s with ties to white supremacist organizations opened fire inside the museum, reportedly hitting two people, including a security guard, in the process.

James W. Von Brunn, according to reports, has a history of anti-Semitism and may have been driven by such feelings when he committed his violent act. Indeed, Von Brunn even had anti-Semitic writings on his web site, and had made pejorative remarks about Jewish control of the Justice system.

In light of these biographical revelations, it is worth revisiting the DHS report that was deemed by conservatives to be so controversial.

In April, the Department of Homeland Security issued a draft memorandum warning that the current economic and political landscape created dangerously ripe conditions for a resurgence in radicalization and extremist recruitment. In it, federal officials warned specifically about an upswing of anti-Semitic behavior.

"Anti-Semitic extremists attribute these losses to a deliberate conspiracy conducted by a cable of Jewish 'financial elites,'" the report read. "These 'accusatory' tactics are employed to draw new recruits into right-wing extremist groups and further radicalize those already subscribing to extremist beliefs."

When the 10-page DHS memorandum was made public, however, warnings like these largely took the back seat to charges that the department had been politically motivated in its assessments and writings. Indeed, a wide swath of voices in the conservative movement -- from Rush Limbaugh to RNC Chairman Michael Steele -- lashed out at DHS Secretary Napolitano over what they deemed an anti-Republican report.

"This is the height of insult here," Steele told Fox News. "I mean to segment out Americans who dissent from this administration, to segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration, and labeling them as terrorists and then to call into question the service of the men and women who are right now standing on that wall defending our freedom and linking them to terrorism while you refuse to call the terrorists -- the real terrorists -- terrorists, to me it's the height of insult."

It's been several months now since that DHS report was issues and, sadly, the study is proving increasingly prescient. In addition to the Von Brunn shootings, there has been the killing of abortion provider George Tiller, another type of ideologically-driven killing that Napolitano warned against.

"Rightwing Extremism" in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely," the DHS report reads. "It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."



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White Supremacist Kills Black DC Security Guard At Holocaust Museum....More Domestic Terrorism or Racial Hatred?

(MSNBC reports on this story.)

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(Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty holds a Press Conference on today's shooting incident. Prior to Officer Tyrone Johns' premature demise. )

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

WASHINGTON - An elderly gunman opened fire with a rifle inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday, fatally wounding a security guard before being shot. Authorities said they were investigating a white supremacist as the suspect.

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, identified by the museum as Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, died later in the hospital. Johns had worked at the museum for six years.

"There are no words to express our grief and shock over today's events," the museum said in statement.

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, 89, 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. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Racist Web site:

Von Brunn has a racist, anti-Semitic Web site and wrote a book titled "Kill the Best Gentile."

In 1983, he was convicted of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board. He was arrested two years earlier outside the room where the board was meeting, carrying a revolver, knife and sawed-off shotgun. At the time, police said Von Brunn wanted to take the members hostage because of high interest rates and the nation's economic difficulties.

The museum houses exhibits and records relating to the Holocaust more than a half century ago in which more than six million Jews were killed by the Nazis.

It is located across the street from the National Mall, and within sight of the Washington Monument. The museum, which draws about 1.7 million visitors each year, was closed for the day after the shooting, and nearby streets were cordoned off by police. Surrounding roads were closed at least temporarily and blocked off with yellow tape. Police cars and officers on horses surrounded the area.

The attack was the third in a recent wave of unsettling shootings that appeared to have political underpinnings.

A 23-year-old Army private, William Andrew Long, was shot and killed outside a recruiting office this month in Arkansas and a fellow soldier was wounded. The suspect, a Muslim convert, has said he considers the killing justified because of the U.S. military presence in the Middle East.

Late last month, abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was shot to death in his church.

White House reacts:

At the White House, just a few blocks away, press secretary Robert Gibbs said he informed President Barack Obama of the events and the chief executive was "obviously saddened by what has happened."

Only last week, Obama visited the site of a German concentration camp at Buchenwald in Germany where he noted, "There are those who insist the Holocaust never happened." He added, "This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts, a reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history."

The museum 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.

Linda Elston, who was visiting the museum 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 said she didn't hear any shots and didn't immediately know why there was an evacuation. The experience left her feeling "a little anxious," she said.

Thousands inside museum:

A museum official said a couple of thousand people were inside the facility when the shooting broke out, just before 1 p.m. ET.

The Embassy of Israel in Washington said it was "shocked and saddened" by the shooting in a statement.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations also released a statement: "We condemn this apparent bias-motivated attack and stand with the Jewish community and with Americans of all faiths in repudiating the kind of hatred and intolerance that can lead to such disturbing incidents."

The museum, the largest U.S. memorial to the Holocaust, opened in 1993 and has been a target of at least one domestic terrorism threat in the past. In 2002, prosecutors said two members of white supremacist groups had plotted to build a fertilizer bomb — like the one used to destroy an Oklahoma City federal building — to blow up the Holocaust museum. Authorities said the two had plotted to incite a race war.


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Shooting Occurs At Holocaust Museum In Washington, DC....Several People Hit

Huffington Post----

Authorities say at least two people have been shot at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

D.C. police spokeswoman Traci Hughes says a person walked into the museum with a rifle and shot a guard. Hughes says the shooter was also shot.

Hughes says the victims' conditions were not known. Both were being taken to a hospital.

U.S. Park Police gave slightly different information, saying three people had been shot.


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Sources: HuffPo, Google Maps