Accused Holocaust Museum gunman James von Brunn was put on a watch list after a rambling meeting with officials at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis two weeks before the fatal shooting of a museum security guard, documents obtained by The Examiner show.
Von Brunn is charged with first-degree murder in the June 10 shooting death of guard Stephen Tyrone Johns. On May 29, von Brunn went to the Naval Academy in his hometown of Annapolis to complain about the academy’s affirmative action policies.
Cmdr. Mike Fulkerson met with von Brunn and told his superiors afterward that what he initially thought was “an amusing story” had more ominous overtones.
“Turns out he was not just the grumpy old man I thought he was,” Fulkerson wrote in a May 30 e-mail. “Don’t want to run around proclaiming the boogie man is here, but this guy is not good. …”
Von Brunn’s ranting visit to the academy has been reported before; the newly unearthed e-mails give greater depth to the academy’s reaction. They also raise new questions for the academy. Von Brunn’s visit came just a couple of months after the Department of Homeland Security circulated a memo to the nation’s law enforcement officers that they should be on the lookout for right-wing extremists.
Academy police Lt. Brian Rippey warned his officers to be on the lookout for von Brunn after the May 29 visit, e-mails show. Academy spokesman Joe Carpenter said Tuesday that staff notified the Navy’s Criminal Investigative Services after the visit, but ultimately viewed von Brunn as “a nuisance.”
“The key point is that Mr. von Brunn didn’t make any threats,” Carpenter said.
Still, the e-mails show that von Brunn’s visit unsettled the academy’s command staff.
Fulkerson wrote: “I am completely convinced he is of no threat (he couldn’t go two steps up the admin bldg steps without pausing) — I just don’t know who his associates are.”
Fulkerson and Rippey declined comment Tuesday.
Asked whether the academy has revised its procedures for dealing with people like von Brunn, Carpenter said, “I’m not going to go into details about our security.”
After the June 10 shooting, Rippey wrote an e-mail to his shift commanders, referring to von Brunn’s visit.
“Excellent Roll Call training oppurtinity [sic],” he wrote. “For all those who say it can’t happen here …”
