I predicted a year ago that an Obama presidency would see a sharp increase in hate crimes. My prediction has been quite accurate, as 2009 is turning out to be the YEAR ov the ANGRY, DERANGED, WHITE CHRISTIAN MALE. In a long string ov shootings, there was the most recent murder ov Dr.George Tiller by a xtian anti-abortion terrorist.
NOW is this latest - a shooting at a Holocaust museum by a hard-core nazi white supremist.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31208188/?GT1=43001
Hate crime strikes Holocaust Museum
Guard killed in Holocaust Museum shooting
Guard in Holocaust Museum shooting dies
Witness: Security personnel ‘absolutely amazing’
WASHINGTON -
An 88-year-old gunman with a violent and virulently anti-Semitic past opened fire with a rifle inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday, fatally wounding a security guard before being shot himself by other officers, authorities said.
The assailant was hospitalized in critical condition, leaving behind a sprawling investigation by federal and local law enforcement and expressions of shock from the Israeli government and a prominent Muslim organization.
Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the gunman was "engaged by security guards immediately after entering the door" with a rifle. "The second he stepped into the building he began firing."
Law enforcement officials said James W. von Brunn, a white supremacist, was under investigation in the shooting and that his car was found near the museum and tested for explosives. The weapon was a .22-caliber rifle, they added. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss the investigation just beginning.
Museum officials identified the dead guard as Stephen T. Johns, a six-year veteran of the facility. In an e-mail, director Sara Bloomfield said he "died heroically in the line of duty."
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.
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."
Witness: 'Is he going to shoot all of us?'
An eyewitness to the shooting tells MSNBC's Contessa Brewer that his group feared for their lives.
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.