WASHINGTON — James Wenneker von Brunn had double-parked his 2002 red Hyundai outside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum at lunch Wednesday and was approaching the entrance when security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns “was kind enough to open the door” for him, Washington police Chief Cathy Lanier said Thursday.
Von Brunn then raised a 22-caliber rifle he had been carrying at his side, aimed it at Jones and fired once, hitting him in the left upper chest and mortally wounding him, according to an affidavit filed in federal court by FBI Agent Ronald Farnsworth.
The 88-year-old suspect “continued through the door and raised his firearm as if to fire again,” the affidavit said, when two other security guards shot back at him eight times with their.38 caliber service revolvers. Struck in the face, von Brunn fired twice more.
The self-described anti-Semitic ideologue was charged with murder Thursday in Johns’ death. He could face the death penalty if convicted, but acting U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips said no decision had been made as to whether prosecutors would seek it.
Information gathered in the investigation indicated that von Brunn had come to the museum intent on making an extremist political statement and possibly provoking a deadly exchange of gunfire.
“You want my weapons — this is how you’ll get them,” a notebook with handwritten notations left behind in von Brunn’s car stated, according to the affidavit. “The Holocaust is a lie. Obama was created by Jews. Obama does what his Jew owners tell him to do. Jews captured America’s money. Jews control the mass media. The First Amendment is abrogated — henceforth.”
The writings, signed by von Brunn, also made reference to his white supremacist Web site and his self-published anti-Semitic book, “Kill the Best Gentiles!,” in which he claimed that Jews were engaged in such a secret campaign.
Von Brunn’s rifle contained 10 more rounds of ammunition, the affidavit said.
Officials also conducted a search of von Brunn’s apartment in Annapolis, Md., where Brandy Teel told FBI agents that she lived with von Brunn’s son Erik.
When von Brunn moved in, Teel told authorities, he brought a .30-30 rifle and a .22-caliber rifle. A search of the apartment found the .30-30, ammunition for the .22 and ledgers, journals and manuscripts, the affidavit said.
Von Brunn remained in critical condition and under heavy guard Thursday at George Washington University Hospital.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was trying to determine where von Brunn obtained any weapons. He was prohibited from using or carrying a firearm after a 1983 conviction on charges of trying to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board.
FBI Assistant Director Joseph Persichini said the FBI had long known about von Brunn and his writings, but that it did not have any legal basis to open a formal investigation. “We were aware of him,” Persichini said.
All indications were that von Brunn acted alone, Persichini said. He said that authorities had seized potential evidence during searches of von Brunn’s car and home, and that forensic experts were beginning to comb through the information on von Brunn’s Web site.
“We know what Mr. von Brunn did yesterday at the Holocaust museum,” Persichini said. “Now it’s our responsibility to determine why he did it.”
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