WASHINGTON — An elderly gunman opened fire with a rifle today inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, gravely wounding a security guard before two other officers returned fire. The assailant and his victim were both hospitalized.
The assailant was in critical condition, said Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty.
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.
A law enforcement official said James Von Brunn, an elderly white supremacist, was being investigated as a potential suspect in the shooting.
Another law enforcement official said Von Brunn’s vehicle was found near the museum and was tested for explosives.
The two officials were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition that they remain anonymous.
Fire department spokesman Alan Etter told CNN a third person was hurt after being cut by broken glass. Several witnesses said they saw the security guard on the floor and bleeding.
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.
Schlosser said park police SWAT teams were doing a secondary sweep of the building, but they didn’t believe there was another gunman.
The museum, located just off the National Mall near the Washington Monument, is a popular tourist attraction. It draws about 1.7 million visitors each year.
Roads surrounding the museum have been closed and blocked off with yellow tape. Several police cars and officers on horses surround the area.
At a press conference this afternoon, officials declined to publicly confirm Von Brunn is their suspect.
According to Joseph Persichini, assistant director in charge of the Washington FBI field office, authorities have dispatched people to a suspect’s home to check his computer. He said they are investigating this as a possible hate crime or domestic terrorism.
Von Brunn has a racist, anti-Semitic Web site called www.holywesternempire.org and wrote a book called “Kill the Best Gentile.”
The U.S. Park Police says the gunman in today’s attack walked into the museum with a “long gun.” The gunman and a security guard were shot. A law enforcement source said the gunman was shot in the face, and authorities say he is in critical condition.
In 1983, Von Brunn 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.
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 when he saw the kid’s faces, he knew someone had been shot.
Sandy Perkins of Massachusetts said her daughter, Abigail, called her shortly after the shooting. The teen was on a school trip to the museum and told her mother students heard several shots before they were told to leave the building.
Abigail said some of her friends from Holton Richmond Middle School in Danvers, Mass., were very shaken, but all were otherwise fine, Sandy Perkins said.
The teens did not see where the shots were coming from.
Linda Elston, who is 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.
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