Obama. Building a more peaceful and tolerant world
Photo: AP
Holocaust Museum after shooting
Photo: AP
Obama 'shocked' at Holocaust museum shooting
US president expresses sadness after attack on Washington Shoah museum which killed at least one man, saying killing underscores need to counter prejudice
President Barack Obama expressed shock and sadness after an attack
on the US Holocaust museum which killed at least one man on Wednesday, saying the killing underscored the need to counter prejudice.
"I am shocked and saddened by today's shooting at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms," Obama said in a statement.
"No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world."
Scene of shooting (Photo: AP)
His comments came after an elderly man with a racist past apparently entered the Washington museum, killing one guard and wounding another, before being critically wounded himself by return fire.
Obama, who visited a Nazi concentration camp in Germany just last week, expressed his condolences to the family of the security guard.
"Today, we have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time."
Eighty-eight-year-old James von Brunn is suspected of carrying out the attack. His website paints him as a Holocaust-denying white supremacist who once went to prison for an attempted attack on the Federal Reserve.
