WASHINGTON, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The man who shot a
security guard dead in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
was charged with murder on Thursday.
The capital police chief, Cathy Lanier, told a press
conference that the suspect, James von Brunn, "is officially being charged at
this point with murder as well as killing in the course of possession of a
firearm in a federal facility."
James W. Von Brunn is seen in a photo
obtained from his website after law enforcement sources confirmed that the
white supremacist was involved in a shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Museum
in Washington, June 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
The 88-year-old resident from Maryland walked into
the museum on Wednesday afternoon and opened fire on African-American guard
Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39. He was shot by two other guards and remains in
critical condition in hospital.
According to acting U.S. attorney Channing Phillips,
von Brunn faces life in prison without parole and could even face a death
sentence if he is convicted.
Authorities said that von Brunn has a racist,
anti-Semitic website and wrote a book titled "Kill the Best Gentiles," and he
was convicted in 1983 of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve
Board.
A U.S. Park Police officer on horseback
patrols the scene outside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (R) after a
shooting inside the museum in Washington, June 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
Federal
Bureau of Investigation, which is working with the U.S. attorney's office and
the Department of Justice on the case, said that it is still reviewing if civil
rights and hate crime charges can also be brought against von Brunn "as an
anti-Semite and a white supremacist who had established websites that inspired
hatred against African-Americans, Jews and others."
The FBI agents has searched von Brunn's home in
Maryland and the car he parked in front of the museum before the attack,
gathering several pieces of evidence, said the bureau.
At the White House several blocks away from the
museum, U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement that he was "shocked and
saddened" by the shooting.
"This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain
vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms," he added.
Mayor Adrian Fenty praised at a Thursday press
conference that the heroism of "not only of our fallen officer Johns, but all of
the officers ... whose efforts yesterday to bring this gunman down so quickly,
literally saved the lives of people."
"There were thousands of people inside the holocaust
museum and one life lost is a tragedy, but this could have been much, much
worse," Fenty said.
WASHINGTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- A security guard who was
shot on Wednesday in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum died in hospital due to
critical wounds, said the museum.
The museum said in a statement that the slain guard,
Stephen Tyrone Johns, died "heroically in the line of duty." Full
story
WASHINGTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The man who fired guns in
the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday was an
88-year-old white supremacist, said law enforcement officials.
U.S. media including Fox news and CNN quoted law
enforcement officials as saying that the gunman had been identified as James von
Brunn, a Maryland resident who has links with hate groups and anti-government
organizations for a long time. Full story
