Washington - A lone gunman with believed connections to white supremacist groups opened fire in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Wednesday.

City and law enforcement authorities told reporters they could not confirm the gunman's identity or any connections to anti-Semitic groups, but media reports said he was believed to be known as a white supremacist James W von Brunn.

The armed man carrying a long rifle entered the museum just blocks from the National Mall and Washington Monument before 1 pm EST and immediately fired on one of the facility's armed security guards just inside the museum's entrance, Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier told reporters.

Two security guards returned fire and one security guard and the gunman were wounded.

Von Brunn has written numerous anti-Semitic articles posted online, including a book called Kill the Best Gentiles, which he calls 'a new hard-hitting expose of the Jewish conspiracy to destroy the white gene pool.'

Von Brunn on a website claims to have served in World War II, to have worked for a New York advertising agency and to belong to Mensa, the high-IQ society. FOX5 DC is reporting that the security guard shot in the museum has died from injures he obtained from the shots fired.

source : groundreport.com