Annapolis suburb != eastern shore. Probably from calvert cliffs, which explains the tin-foil....
On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 1:38 PM, Larry Lyons<[email protected]> wrote: > > Hey Tony you know this guy, he's from the Eastern Shore. > larry > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/10/AR2009061001768.html?hpid=topnews > > 2 Shot at Holocaust Museum > > By Debbi Wilgoren and William Branigin > Washington Post Staff Writers > Wednesday, June 10, 2009 3:38 PM > > > > A gunman armed with a rifle walked into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in > downtown Washington today and opened fire on a security guard before being > shot and seriously wounded by two guards, authorities said. > > The security guard and the gunman were both transported to George Washington > University Hospital with serious injuries, police said. A hospital > spokesperson declined to release information on the condition of the two. > > A third person sustained minor injuries in the shooting, according to police. > > A law enforcement source identified the gunman as James W. von Brunn, 88, who > is known to authorities as a white supremacist. On a Web site he apparently > maintains extolling a "Holy Western Empire," von Brunn says he served in the > U.S. Navy during World War II, worked for 20 years as an advertising > executive and film producer in New York and then became "an artist and > author" living on Maryland's Eastern Shore. > > Sgt. David Schlosser, a spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, said the security > guard and the gunman were the only two persons who were hit by gunshots. > > He said the museum has been "completely secured and evacuated." > > A spokesman for the museum, Andy Hollinger, said in a statement that after > the gunman opened fire, "two Museum security officers returned fire hitting > the assailant." > > Police initially identified the attacker's weapon as a shotgun, but D.C. > Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier later said it appeared to be a rifle. > > The gunman "came into the entrance and immediately opened fire, striking one > security guard," D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said. "There was gunfire > returned; the gunman was hit." > > Fenty said the gunman is in critical condition and the wounded security guard > is in grave condition. The guard's name is not being released, he said. > > Fenty called the shooting "an extremely isolated incident" and said the > security guards "performed exceptionally well and behaved exactly as they > were supposed to." He praised "the heroism of the security guards." > > Lanier said the assailant appeared to be "a lone gunman who entered the > museum and opened fire with what appears to be a rifle at this point." She > said law enforcement authorities have not confirmed the identity of the > gunman, despite media reports that he is a white supremacist from Annapolis. > > The assailant's weapon was visible as he entered the museum, Lanier said. > > "Immediately as he entered the front doors of the museum, he raised the rifle > and started shooting," she said. The second he stepped into the building, he > began firing." > > Police have used bomb-sniffing dogs to sweep the museum and the area around > it as a routine precaution, Lanier said. > > An off-duty D.C. police officer who was nearby responded to the museum, along > with U.S. Park Police who were patrolling in the area, officials said. They > helped the victim until medical crews arrived. > > A spokeswoman for Wackenhut Services Inc., confirmed that the company > provides security for the museum. According to the company's Web site, > Wackenhut is the U.S. government's "largest contractor for professional > security services." > > The company has more than 8,000 employees in the United States and abroad. In > the National Capital Region, it has 1,000 employees and 10 security contracts. > > In a short biography on a white supremacist Web site he created, > holywesternempire.com, von Brunn gave his birth year as 1920 and wrote that > held a journalism degree from a "mid-Western university." > > He boasted in the Web biography and on a Wikipedia page of an escapade in > which he attempted to take over the Federal Reserve on Dec. 7, 1981, holding > the Board of Governors "under citizens arrest" and charging them with > treason. He was captured, tried and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. > He blamed a "Negro jury," "Jew/Negro attorneys" and "a Jew judge" for his > conviction. > > Upon his release after serving 6 1/2 years in prison, von Brunn said he > joined Mensa, the society for people who score in the top 2 percent of a > standardized intelligence test. An executive assistant at Mensa, Joy Martin, > confirmed that von Brunn was a member for a year starting on April 2, 1987. > But he was dropped from the membership rolls in 1988 for failing to pay dues. > > According to the biography, Von Brunn captained a PT Boat in World War II and > earned "four battle stars." That claim could not be immediately substantiated. > > A woman who opened the door at von Brunn's apartment, in a neighborhood > outside downtown Annapolis, declined to comment. > > Neighbors, who asked that they not be identified, said they recently invited > von Brunn to their home for a drink and that he unexpectedly brought up his > belief that the Holocaust did not occur. > > "He didn't believe the Holocaust existed. It was just off the wall," said one > of the neighbors. > > The shooting was reported to police at 12:52 p.m., and officers rushed to the > scene just south of Independence Ave. bordering the Mall. > > Scores of police and emergency vehicles converged on the scene, blocking 14th > Street, a major artery between downtown Washington and the Virginia suburbs. > > Police closed the area around the museum. They said they were trying to > reopen 14th Street to traffic as soon as possible. > > One witness, Dave Unruh, of Wichita, Kan., said he was waiting to enter the > museum when he heard one gunshot, then a sequence of four or five gunshots. > He said he then heard someone scream, "Hit the floor!" He and his wife, > Karen, and their two teenage grandchildren dropped to the floor and were > subsequently herded out of the building by authorities. > > Unruh called the experience "intensely, extremely frightening." > > By 1 p.m., the street in front of the museum was blocked by a museum police > officer. A group of schoolchildren was rushed onto a chartered luxury coach > and the bus driver struggled to pull away from the block. > > Kimberly Frank, 44, of Chicago, said she was coming out of the museum with > her 14-year-old son Tyler when "we heard shots, pretty consecutive, within > seconds." > > "We were on the lower level, just getting ready to exit," Frank said. "I was > thinking about what I'd just experienced through the whole memorial. I wasn't > thinking too much of it till I came outside and saw all the people running > around." > > Schlosser, the Park Police spokesman, said an unidentified man walked into > the museum at about 12:50 p.m. with a "long gun." He said he did not know > whether the gunman was inside or outside the museum's metal detectors when he > was confronted by a security guard. > > That guard and at least one other security guard fired shots, and the gunman > also fired at the guards, Schlosser said. > > A US. Park Police SWAT team then swarmed into the building and carried out a > search for anyone else who may have been involved, Schlosser said. He said > the gunman apparently acted alone. > > Trevor Ezelo, 18, from Arizona, said: "Basically we were in the propaganda > exhibit, walking around, and all of a sudden we heard five shots. We all > started looking around. We didn't even think it was gunshots. We thought it > was something that fell over. Then a security guard ran in, saying, 'Move > back into the exhibit!'" > > Then, Ezelo said, "some lady ran in crying, and we all knew something was > wrong." > > In a statement, William Parsons, the museum's chief of staff, said all staff > and visitors were safe. > > "One of our guards was shot and has been taken to the hospital," he said. > "The suspect who committed the shooting was shot by our guards and has been > taken to the hospital." > > He asked employees to remain in their offices until police finished > conducting a sweep of the museum. > > "We expect the Museum to be open tomorrow," Parsons said. > > Since it opened nearly two decades ago, the Holocaust museum has become a top > attraction for school groups and tourists from across the nation. Groups of > various races and ethnic backgrounds converge on the striking stone building > daily to tour exhibits that document, in chilling detail, the extermination > of 6 million Jews and millions of other people by Germany's Nazi regime > during World War II. > > The museum also has played an active role in documenting and decrying what it > describes as more recent attempts at genocide, including conflicts in Darfur > and Bosnia. > > Law enforcement officials attend sensitivity training programs there, and > elderly Holocaust survivors have come to the facility -- children and > grandchildren in tow -- for emotional reunions that attest to the failure of > the Nazis to achieve their goal. > > About 400 employees and 300 volunteers work at the museum, which is both > publicly and privately funded. > > "The Federal Bureau of Investigation has sent members of its National Capital > Response Squad, including agents and team members on SWAT, Evidence Recovery, > and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, to provide on scene support," said John > Perren, the Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office's > Counterterrorism Division. "The situation is fluid and therefore no other > statements will be made at this time." > > In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said: > > > "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." > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:298244 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
