The son of the man accused of killing a security guard at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum says his father had long burdened his family with his white supremacist views and that he wishes his father would have died in the shooting instead.
James von Brunn, 88, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Stephen Johns, who was black.
“I cannot express enough how deeply sorry I am it was Mr Johns, and not my father who lost [his] life,” Erik von Brunn, 32, said in a statement to ABC News on Sunday. “It was unjustified and unfair that he died, and while my condolences could never begin to offer appeasement, they, along with my remorse is all I have to give.”
Authorities say von Brunn shot the guard in the chest with a vintage rifle after Johns opened the door for him. Von Brunn was shot in the face by guards and is expected to survive. A hearing is set for Monday in a Washington, federal court for a magistrate judge to hear about von Brunn’s health.
“His views consumed him, and in doing so, not only destroyed his life, but destroyed our family and ruined our lives as well,” Erik von Brunn’s statement said.
The younger von Brunn told the Washington Post in a telephone interview from his mother’s home in Homosassa, Florida, that he had a decent relationship with his father. The elder von Brunn never insisted that his son share his views, although he was disappointed when he did not.
Erik von Brunn, an aspiring teacher and fiction writer who recently graduated from the University of Maryland, declined to say whether he was estranged from his father. Court documents indicate that the elder von Brunn had been living with his son in a condominium in Annapolis, Maryland, not far from Washington.
He said he never imagined that his father would take a life.
“I never had any inclination to think that. The man is 88 years old. I never would have thought he could do this,” he said. “It really hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s a shock.”
Von Brunn’s mother, Pat Sadowski, said on Sunday that her son was not home and was unavailable for further comment.
A man who answered the phone at Johns’ boyhood home in Temple Hills, Maryland, where his mother, Jacqueline Carter, still lives, said Erik von Brunn made a “wonderful statement.” The man said he was a relative and that Carter was not available to comment.
Von Brunn’s statement praised Johns, “who bravely sacrificed his life,” and addressed those who share his father’s views.
“For the extremists who believe my father is a hero: it is imperative that you understand what he did was an act of cowardice,” he said.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It
RSS