James W. von Brunn

The 89-year-old man charged with a deadly shooting at Washington’s Holocaust museum died Wednesday in a prison hospital, authorities said.

At Butner federal prison in North Carolina, spokeswoman Denise Simmons announced that James von Brunn died shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Simmons said von Brunn had “a long history of poor health which included chronic congestive heart failure and sepsis.” She said he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Von Brunn’s lawyer, A.J. Kramer, called the death “a sad end to a tragic situation,” but declined further comment.

Source/Full Story:  FOXNews.com

The man charged with killing a security officer at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is expected to survive his subsequent shooting by other security officers, the FBI said in a statement released Saturday.

Shooting suspect James von Brunn is hospitalized in critical condition after being shot by security officers.

The statement was based on a Thursday court session in which a public defender was appointed for James von Brunn, charged with first-degree murder in the death of Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39, a security officer who police say opened a museum door Wednesday for the 88-year-old reputed white supremacist.

"Defendant was not present in court because he is still in the hospital," FBI Supervisory Special Agent Katherine Schweit said in the written statement. "Government told the court that the defendant was in critical, but stable, condition with an expectation of survival."

Von Brunn was charged Thursday with a federal count of murder and killing while in possession of a firearm in a federal facility.

Authorities said von Brunn shot Johns with a rifle at the entrance to the Washington museum after Johns had opened the door for him. Other security guards then shot von Brunn, authorities said.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

Von Brunn’s site is offline, which is to be expected, but the cached pages still work just fine.

A rifle-wielding white supremacist entered Washington’s Holocaust museum on Wednesday afternoon, fatally shooting a security guard before being wounded himself by return fire from other guards, authorities said.

Stephen Tyrone Johns, a six-year veteran of the museum’s security staff, later "died heroically in the line of duty," said Sara Bloomfield, museum director.

Law enforcement sources identified the suspect as James W. von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist from Maryland.

He is a known Holocaust denier who created an anti-Semitic Web site called "The Holy Western Empire." He has repeatedly claimed "The Diary of Anne Frank," a widely read book about a teenage girl’s experiences under Nazi rule, was a hoax.

The museum shooting occurred on a day the museum was to stage a play based on Anne Frank and two days before what would have her 80th birthday.

Investigators found a notebook in the suspect’s car listing other locations in Washington, a federal official told CNN. It was unclear what purpose the list served.

Von Brunn allegedly entered the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum at 12:50 p.m. Wednesday and immediately shot Johns with a rifle, said Chief Cathy Lanier of the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department. Two other security guards returned fire, according to Lanier and the museum statement.

Both Johns and Von Brunn were taken to George Washington University Hospital, said D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty. Johns died at the hospital. Von Brunn was in critical condition, Fenty said.

Johns, 40, was a resident of Temple Hills, Maryland, according to a statement issued by Wackenhut Services Inc., which has provided security services at the museum since 2002.

"Obviously there are no words to express our grief and shock over the horrific event that took place at this museum today," Bloomfield, the museum director, said.

Source/Full Story:   CNN.com