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A frustrated artist and an angry man, the
suspect in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting once tried
to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve board, a "caper"
thwarted when a guard captured him outside a board meeting carrying
a bag stuffed with weapons.

      James Von Brunn, 88, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier,
describes the assault with apparent pride on his Web site, the
source of fulmination against Jews and races other than his own.

      Von Brunn was sentenced in 1983 to more than four years in
prison for attempted armed kidnapping and other charges in his Fed
assault. He was released in 1989.

      "The subject resides in my memory like old road-kill," he
wrote. "What could have been a slam-bang victory turned into
ignoble failure. Recalling all of this presents an onerous task. I
am getting near the end of the diving board."

      Despite the revolver, sawed-off shotgun and knife found in his
bag that day, Von Brunn insisted he was trying to place the board
under "legal, non-violent citizens-arrest."

      A self-described artist, advertising man and author living in
Annapolis, Md., Von Brunn wrote an anti-Semitic treatise, "Kill
the Best Gentiles," that he said no one would publish. He decries
"the browning of America" and claims to expose a Jewish
conspiracy "to destroy the White gene-pool."

      Von Brunn also wrote, "The 'Holocaust' Religion is destroying
Western Civilization. The Aryan gene-pool dies, 'unwept, unhonored
and unsung."'

      His lengthy, often rambling online biography aside, law
enforcement officials are trying to piece together details of Von
Brunn's life.

      Two law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case,
said investigators are trying to better understand time he spent in
Idaho, and how he acquired the gun used in Wednesday's attack. The
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is tracing the
weapon. Under federal law, convicted felons cannot purchase
firearms.

      In his account of his "Federal Reserve caper," the St. Louis
native relates his "character shapers" - among them a schoolyard
bully who beat him up, vacation days on the Mississippi River, his
service on a PT boat in World War II, and what he said was his
first trouble with the law - a year in jail for tussling with a
sheriff on Maryland's Eastern Shore in 1968, the year he moved to
the area from New York City.


      Von Brunn applied to have his art shown at the Troika Gallery in
Easton, Md., around the time the gallery opened about 12 years ago,
two of the owners, Laura Era and Jennifer Wharton, told The
Associated Press. They said they turned him down because it was not
up to their quality and that made Von Brunn angry.

      "He stomped out," Wharton said. "You don't normally get that
reaction from artists."

      They say his work was not strange or violent, but the artists
they show have many years of professional experience.

      Era and Wharton said they had heard that Von Brunn had been in
jail because of his political beliefs and knew that he had
prejudices. They did not feel comfortable around him, but said they
didn't want to make him an enemy.

      One time Von Brunn arrived at the gallery livid because he had
just seen a mixed race couple getting married at the garden of the
historical society nearby, Era and Wharton said.

      Von Brunn was not around for years, but turned up a year or two
ago. He did not spend as much time at their gallery as before and
they did not encourage him to, the women said.

      They said Von Brunn's work depicted images such as horses and
buffalo in the American West or an eagle with the U.S. flag.

      Von Brunn's biography on the artists' directory askart.com says
his father, Elmer, was superintendent of Scullin steel mill of St.
Louis, and their family, on both sides, migrated from Germany and
Austria in 1845 or near that year. He is listed as producing
portraits, illustrations, graphics and more.


      Von Brunn's accounts of what shaped his character as a boy and
young man are heavy with dark episodes blamed on Jews and other
minorities. After each account, he draws a "moral."


      "Life and Death are opposite sides of the same coin. Fate flips
the coin."


      "Things to be proud of often involve high risk. You can't hide
from death. It always finds you."


      "It's better to be strong than right - unless you like dying.
Crowds hate good guys."

Gallery

Gunman shoots, kills, guard at Holocaust Museum

Crime, Law and Justice

A frustrated artist and an angry man, the
suspect in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting once tried
to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve board, a "caper"
thwarted when a guard captured him outside a board meeting carrying
a bag stuffed with weapons.


Shooting suspect's history of seething anger

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