Security Officer is killed in shooting at Smithsonian Institution Holocaust Museum in Washington DC

June 10, 2009

WASHINGTON DC — An 88-year-old white supremacist with a rifle walked into the Holocaust Museum, one of the capital’s most-visited sites, on Wednesday afternoon and began shooting, fatally wounding a security guard and sending tourists scrambling before he himself was shot, the authorities said.

The gunman was identified by law enforcement officials as James W. von Brunn, who embraces various conspiracy theories involving Jews, blacks and other minority groups and has at times waged a personal war with the federal government.

The exchange of gunfire in the entrance area of the museum, which occurred shortly before 1 p.m., sent a group of teenagers from Massachusetts, in Washington on a school trip, scurrying to safety.

The gunman and the security guard were both taken to nearby George Washington University Hospital, with the gunman handcuffed to a gurney, witnesses said. The guard, who was not immediately identified, was pronounced dead a few hours after the shooting, The Associated Press reported. Washington Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said the gunman was in critical condition.

Publicly, the authorities did not identify Mr. Brunn as the suspect, but several law enforcement officials named him, and there were reports that his vehicle was found not far from the museum.

The police chief, Cathy Lanier, said the gunman walked into the museum’s main entrance and simply began shooting without warning. Within moments, at least one security guard was returning fire, and a total of five or six shots are believed to have been fired.

Mr. von Brunn, whose latest address is believed to be in Eastern Maryland, was convicted in 1983 of trying to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board two years earlier. In that incident, he was captured by a guard in the board’s headquarters after running to the second floor, where the board was meeting. He was carrying a revolver, a hunting knife and a sawed-off shotgun in a shoulder bag, the police said.

Mr. von Brunn, who then lived in Lebanon, N.H., told the police he wanted to take board members hostage to focus media attention on their responsibility for high interest rates and the nation’s economic difficulties. He was sentenced to four years in prison for attempted kidnapping, burglary, assault and weapons charges.

Law enforcement officials and others who track conspiracy theorists have long been familiar with Mr. van Brunn, in part because he maintains a Web site. He has claimed variously to be a member of Mensa, the high-I.Q. fraternity; to have played varsity football at a Midwestern college, where he earned a degree in journalism; to have been a P.T. boat captain in World War II, and to have been victimized by a court system run by Jews and black people.

“One or more” security guards returned fire moments after the gunman began shooting, Sgt. David Schlosser of the United States Park Police said in a sidewalk news conference shortly before 2 p.m. Sergeant Schlosser said he understood that only the gunman and one security guard were wounded.

Opened in 1993, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is situated near the National Mall and the Potomac River. Since its dedication, it has had early 30 million visitors, including more than 8 million school children and 85 heads of state, the museum says on its Web site.

On Wednesday evening, members of Congress and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. are to visit the Holocaust Museum for the debut of the play “Anne and Emmett” by Janet Langhard Cohen. The play is a fictional dialogue between Anne Frank, whose diary recounted her days in hiding during the Holocaust, and Emmett Till, the black teen-ager killed by white racists in 1955.

The eighth-grade student, who has not been identified by authorities, was in critical condition early Tuesday after undergoing surgery following Monday's shooting. No one else was injured.

Afterward, investigators found a profanity-laced note that said "U all will die."

"The letter indicated his intention was to kill people," Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said.

The student left during homeroom Monday morning, a fellow student said. He went to the bathroom and changed from the khaki uniform pants the school requires to a pair of camouflaged pants. He then stormed into the classroom across the hall from the restroom — gun in hand, said Coley Gaspard, 14, who was in the room.

Investigators believe the boy chose the room because of its closeness to the restroom, not because he had any agenda concerning the teacher or students.

He tried to shoot the teacher, Webre said, but the gun did not fire.

Webre said the boy made an adjustment, then fired over the teacher's head. As he left the room he asked one of the students to go with him, but left alone when the youngster remained seated.

He apparently returned to the bathroom and shot himself within minutes, Webre said.

The young man got the gun, a .25-caliber, nickel-plated semiautomatic, from his father's house during the weekend, Webre said.

The school has both standing and handheld metal detectors, but they aren't used all the time and weren't in use Monday. The school was scheduled to reopen Tuesday with enhanced security and several counselors on hand.

At another school about 100 miles away, deputies found an unloaded handgun in the backpack of a 15-year-old boy Monday.

Authorities in East Baton Rouge told The Advocate newspaper that a teacher at a private school for grades 4 through 12 reported suspicions that the student had a weapon. The student, who was not named, was taken into juvenile detention on a count of carrying a weapon on school property.

The Larose school, with about 500 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, is in a rural community of about 7,000 people, some 45 miles southwest of New Orleans.

Webre said the boy had no disciplinary problems at school and hadn't been in trouble with the law.

"He makes reference to himself as an outcast," Webre said, referring to the journal. "But nothing in his record reflects that."

He was a year or two older than most of his classmates who described him as a quiet boy who never talked about guns or violence.

The boy's mother said he seemed nervous before leaving for school, but when she asked him about it, he attributed it to getting the results of the "LEAP" tests that eighth-graders must pass to be promoted.

Gaspard said he was in his seventh-grade English and reading class when the boy came in. The teen yelled for everyone to get down, cursing at the class.

Nobody moved. Gaspard knew the boy, whom he described as quiet and nice, and thought it was a dramatic enactment for some sort of lesson. Then, he said, the boy walked over and pointed the gun at the teacher, ordering her to say, "Hail Marilyn Manson," referring to the shock-rock icon, Gaspard said.

She said nothing. After firing into the wall, the youngster told another boy to get up. The seventh-grader stayed in his seat, and the teen left.

Webre said he couldn't confirm Gaspard's account.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

__________

Pickerington high school lockdown canceled Thursday, November 6, 2008 2:48 PM Updated: Thursday, November 6, 2008 03:15 PM

The Columbus Dispatch A security lockdown of Pickerington High School North has been canceled after authorities determined students were in no danger.

The lockdown this afternoon was prompted by a threat to kill a student, said Fairfield County Sheriff Dave Phalen.

A woman called deputies to report that her ex-boyfriend sent her a text message today in which he threatened to buy a gun, go to the school and kill her teen-age son, the sheriff said. The boy is safe and in the custody of deputies.

Deputies are standing by at the school at 7800 Refugee Road, but the man had not arrived, Phalen said. "I see no reason for panic," the sheriff said.

The school district initially halted the busing of students and barred anyone from leaving or entering, but then lifted the lockdown about 3 p.m.

All school-related activities planned for this evening are canceled, the district said.

_________

Halifax, Nova Scotia - Masked intruders enter school, flee during lockdown

By PATRICIA BROOKS ARENBURG and MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporters Thu. Nov 6 - 6:47 PM Police were called to John Martin Junior High in north-end Dartmouth on Wednesday. Two boys seen creeping up interior stairs with bandanas hiding their faces prompted a lockdown at a north-end Dartmouth junior high school Wednesday. "At no time was there a weapon seen . . . but the way they entered the building and the fact that they had bandanas over their faces led to concerns about why they were in the building," said Shaune MacKinlay, spokeswoman for the Halifax regional school board. School officials locked more than 220 students in their classrooms at John Martin Junior High after the two boys were spotted in the building at about 1:30 p.m. Ms. MacKinlay said one was identified as a 14-year-old who has not been attending the school, although he has not been under suspension. The boys left before Halifax Regional Police arrived. The lockdown lasted about 20 minutes. Police went to the 14-year-old’s home and arrested both boys. One was released and the other is charged with uttering threats and wearing a mask while committing a crime. He is to appear in court today. Police said in a news release that the boys were looking for a third boy in relation to an ongoing dispute. Officers were still at the school after students were dismissed for the day. Ms. MacKinlay said it wasn’t immediately known how the boys gained entry. "That’s something the principal is going to look into, as to how they may have gotten in," she said. She said the school is normally locked except in the morning while students are arriving and after lunch.Police weren’t immediately able to confirm a report that the 14-year-old had a knife. The school lockdown in Dartmouth came just a couple of weeks after a suspended Citadel High student was charged with threatening and assaulting two vice-principals and a teacher on school grounds. After a board meeting Wednesday night, superintendent Carole Olsen told reporters "the safety of our students is of utmost importance." She said the board is undertaking several safety initiatives, from keeping all but one door at each building locked during the day to making everyone who enters a school wear identification tags. "We’ve got a lot of professional development to help staff deal with some of the disruptive behaviours," Ms. Olsen said.

"In many instances, we’re going to have to marshal the resources of the community. Sometimes the situation with an individual student may be such that the school isn’t the only resource that we need . . . to help the student."

Luis Rosas, of Bell, was playing basketball on an outdoor court at Bell High School when he was confronted by one or more assailants. They shot him in the upper body at about 8 p.m. Monday, 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Authorities say he then stumbled into the school gym during a youth basketball game and died in front of about 40 people.

No suspects had been arrested early Tuesday.

Police Arrest Teen In School Lockdown Case 16-Year-Old Charged With Breach Of Peace

POSTED: 5:35 pm EST November 3, 2008 UPDATED: 8:12 pm EST November 3, 2008

THOMPSON, Conn.

-- Connecticut State Police have made an arrest in the investigation of shell casings found on the grounds of the town’s education campus.

School officials said students provided information at about 10 a.m. on Monday that a 16-year-old Tourtellotte High School student had been telling people he was the person who brought the .22 mm bullets to the school Friday.

The education campus went into lockdown Friday after the bullets and a gun magazine were found by a school employee.

After investigators located the individual in question, they continued their look into the incident.

“Actually, on Friday, before anybody knew anything that happened, it was kind of like a regular drill,” said senior Kyle Carpenter. “Then when we found out it was actually a gun clip, everyone was scared.”

Police said the 16-year-old was taken into custody by police at the school. He has been charged with second-degree breach of peace for the incident, they said, and later released on a $2,500 bond.

For Immediate Release Monday, November 03, 2008

Juveniles shot with BB gun

On 11/03/08, at 1:11 p.m. Bakersfield Police received a report of a juvenile shot at the Howard’s Mini Mart, 4201 Belle Terrace.

Investigation revealed that there were 5 juveniles, ages 11-13, who had been shot by a suspect with a BB gun. One of the victims was shot in the head resulting in a minor injury. One was shot in the back of the neck resulting in a minor injury. The other three victims were shot but no injury resulted. The victims shot in the head and neck were transported to a hospital for treatment.

The victims were apparently involved in an argument with another juvenile earlier today at school, Curran Middle School. The juvenile who they argued with sought the assistance of an adult, Ryan Yorba (26), of Bakersfield. Yorba and the juvenile drove to the area of the Howard’s Mini Mart and observed the other five juveniles. Yorba then shot the juveniles with a BB gun and fled the area.

Officers made contact with Yorba by phone and he returned to his residence in the 4100 block of Wood Lane where he was arrested. The BB gun used was recovered. Yorba was arrested for 5 counts of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, 5 counts of child endangerment, and 1 count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Yorba was booked into the Kern County Jail.

Officers have not yet located the juvenile who solicited the assistance of Yorba. The investigation is continuing.

Anyone with information is asked to call Bakersfield Police at 661-327-7111.

The 23-year-old student was in the small backyard guest house where he lived several blocks north of the university about 12:30 a.m. when two men in their 20s came to the door and forced their way in, police spokesman Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said. The student armed himself with a handgun and shot them both, then called police. 16Oct2008 - Manchester NH

The area around Lowell and Maple streets were closed and Central High School went into lock-down about 1:20 p.m. for the safety of students and staff.__________

16Oct2008 - Colorado Springs CO

Colo. Spgs. Man Accused Of School Shooting Threat COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ¯ A former student at Colorado Springs' Rampart High School faces two misdemeanor charges for allegedly calling a nearby grocery store and threatening to shoot students at the school.Lake Forest police arrested two teens following a foot-chase on the west side of town that locked down Everett School and School of St. Mary's Primary Grade Center for 30 minutes Friday morning. Police found Robert A. Taylor, 18, and a 16-year-old male hiding underneath the porch of a home in the 1200 block of Telegraph Road after a police officer noticed the two suspects on bikes in the vicinity of the west side Lake Forest train depot where a robbery occurred the night before. San Antonio TX

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (KXAN) -- There is a confirmed shooting at a college on the northeast side of San Antonio in Live Oak. The shooting happened at Lakeview Community College at 8300 Pat Booker Road. The college is part of the Alamo Community College District. The campus was on lockdown after the shooting occurred. A 38-year-old full time librarian was shot and was confirmed dead at the scene. Back to BulletBlocker Home