Around noon on Saturday, an unidentified man moved into the path of a train at the Potomac Avenue station in Southeast and was struck by an Orange Line train.  EMS technicians worked to free the man and eventually transported him to a local hospital but he later died from his injuries.  Approximately 24 hours later, Gweno Ladisch, a French woman living in Chevy Chase, also purposely placed herself in front of a train at Bethesda station and died as a result.  Metro suicides like these are tragic, isolated incidents but are becoming more frequent, according to a poll in today's Examiner.  It's the other incidents of violence that have greater shock value.

Yesterday, two employees of the Potomac and Rappahannock Transit Commission were shot and killed at a bus terminal in Prince William County.  A suspect, Glenn Wade, who also happened to be a roommate of one of the victims, turned himself in and was charged with murder last night.  According to police, an altercation between the two men may have resulted in the shooting, but a reason behind the action doesn't make it better.

What is it about this area?  It was only last November that a 15 year old boy was shot and killed on a Ride-On bus in Silver Spring.  Two years ago, people nation-wide were praising Wesley Autry, the New Yorker who saved a stranger's life by throwing himself onto the tracks as the train passed over them.  In DC, four people have died in three days with little fanfare.  Our public transit system needs a safety overhaul, that's for sure.  But maybe Washingtonians aren't fazed.  According to Metro's ridership statistics, the number of people using Metro is constantly rising.

He has been identified as Stephen Tyrone Johns, and had worked at the museum for six years.

UPDATE, 5:10 P.M.: The museum has posted a statement on its Web site: "There are no words to express our grief and shock over today’s events at the Museum, which took the life of Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. Officer Johns, who died heroically in the line of duty, served on the Museum’s security staff for six years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns’s family. We have made the decision to close the Museum Thursday, June 11, in honor of Officer Johns and our flags will be flown at half mast in his memory."

Sgt. David Schlosser just gave a briefing on this afternoon's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Here are the key points:

*A lone gunman entered the building around 12:50 p.m. The man was armed with a long gun, and it's unclear at this point whether it was a rifle or a shotgun.

*Shortly after entering, the gunman opened fire and at least one security officer returned fire. The shooter was wounded and is now in "pretty serious" condition, according to Schlosser.

*One of the security officers appears to have been wounded as well. No fatalities have been reported at this point.

*There is no reason to believe that another shooter is on the loose. The museum has been "cleared," and a secondary sweep of the building is underway.

David Unruh, who came to Washington for his 47th wedding anniversary, was waiting to enter the building when he heard at least five shots. The security guards thereupon ordered everyone to hit the floor. "It was terror. We were frightened," says Unruh, who glimpsed a large gentleman in a corner, trying to shield his children.

By Mike DeBonis

5:28 p.m. Update: Von Brunn appears to be the classic drifter with stops in New York City, Maryland, Florida, California, New Hampshire and back to Maryland. NY Daily News interviews his ex-wife: "'He used to make the statement that he was going out with his boots on,' she said."

"Because of the arson attack in California, we were afraid for the baby's safety -- and our own. We bought a house near Hanover, NH. I acquired a real estate broker's shingle. I listed several commercial properties including a Holiday Inn, and some prime acreage. Again, money was tight. Brokers were folding their tents. I supplemented my income by free-lancing layouts for local advertisers and an ad agency there. I sold two oils at a Dartmouth exhibit; another was stolen. In the evening I used Dartmouth library to research the Federal Reserve System. I met a conservative professor of Economics and knew I was on to something after learning the FED was a private corporation. Unable to earn a living, I was now on the run.

My wife, despairing of my unprofitable obsession, wanted to return to Maryland, which we had fled 10 years earlier. In Maryland I placed my R-E brokers license with Coldwell Banker, in Annapolis. Brokers in Maryland also were falling like autumn leaves. I set a record for listings, but interest rates discouraged buyers. Banks were foreclosing, repossessing valuable properties for a song. I attended a real-estate brokers' meeting in D.C. Paul Volcker, FED Chairman, was keynote speaker. One of his memorable remarks to the large nervous audience was: "You guys are going to hate me because tomorrow I'm going to bankrupt you." Sure enough, there followed a repeat of the Florida fiasco. Prime-rate was raised and America was plunged into an even deeper depression. 'Kill the Best Gentiles !'"

4:30 p.m. Update: City Desk just obtained the police report filed in Superior Court from Von Brunn's kidnapping case. It reads:

"On 12-7-81, [unreadable] at approximately 1155 hours the defendant entered the Federal Reserve Board located at 20th and C St. NW, went to the second floor of that location and was confronted by W-1 [witness one], who is employed at that location as a security guard. The defendant then placed a .38 Smith and Wesson, five shot revolver in W-1's stomach. W-1 [called]  other security personnel for assistance and the defendant was eventually disarmed."

The police account goes on to state:

"Also confiscated from the defendant were a Remington 12 gauge shotgun, which he had concealed under his coat, a hunting knife, and a camera case which the defendant advised contained a bomb. Only books were found in the camera case.

Members of the Metropolitan Police Department were summoned and the defendant was subsequently arrested.

After being advised of the miranda warning the defendant gave a written statement (See PD 118) advising that his actions were politically motivated and that he intended to take the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and its members hostage in order to allow to voice his opinions over the media."

The police document notes that Von Brunn refused his one phone call.

4:22 p.m. Update: Superior Court: Von Brunn in his kidnapping case dumped his first defense attorney and tried to fight case pro se. He eventually got another defense attorney in the summer of '82.

4:02 p.m. Update Von Brunn writes about getting a DWI on the Eastern Shore:

"At the police station they said I was arrested for DWI. I said that I wanted my attorney contacted. They said first you're going to be booked. I had never been arrested before. I didn't like the idea of giving them my fingerprints and being photographed. They insisted. It was hot. I was getting drunker. There were five cops and the Sheriff. They insisted. I refused. They grappled me up from the chair and slammed me face to the wall. When they pulled me around there was the Sheriff with his Polaroid. I hit the camera out of his hands. The cops were all over me with mace and clubs. They kicked me down the stairs, then locked me up....

"I lost my drivers license. Lost my presidency at the Academy. My family was mortified. I was humiliated and ashamed. I raked the leaves in the prison yard, worked on Judge Mace's homestead. He regularly used State labor, and State materials to fill and maintain his driveway, paint his house, tend his garden and foliage. I developed a staph infection in my neck. The prison doctor recommended that I be released immediately. I served about 4 months."

After he got out, Von Brunn writes that he got a call from an old cellmate with an idea:

"I received a telephone call from Frankie Lew. He had occupied a cell next to mine in Cambridge. Frankie was a water man. His grip powerful as a steel trap, his hands gnarled, calloused, the fingers permanently bent from handling oyster tongs most of his life. He was about 35, his face scarred from barroom brawls where chains and pool cues were favorite weapons. He hated "nigras." He told me he'd go to Ocean City and wait for a mixed couple to appear on the Boardwalk. He'd scoot up ahead of them, then u-turn. When he approached the nigra he'd jam a knife into the guys gut. The Negro wouldn't feel it, kept walking till he collapsed. Frankie said he wanted to come up and see me."

It's unclear whether the two ever went through with the Ocean City plot.

Eventually there is this bit of racism from his long bio:

"Over my years of adversity, it became clear to me that a JEW strategy had emerged: "Kill the Best Gentiles !" The tactics were WAR & DEBT. My father's generation struggled through the Great War "to end all wars" and the Great Depression. One of my uncles was forced to take in washing and iron laundry. A dear family friend stole from the market to keep his young family fed. One of my father's boyhood pals shot himself, another attached a hose to the tailpipe of his auto and gassed himself. My Brit father-in-law, a Sandhurst grad, Oxford student and RFC officer, stole food from the A&P so his family could survive. I had earned decent wages in NYC but I was never financially secure. I was chased from one job to another for not genuflecting before God's Chosen. When a Jew CEO deliberately farts in a business meeting, to express his contempt, I seem to react unfavorably."

3:58 p.m. Update Von Brunn writes of his failed kidnapping attempt:

"Over the years Revisionists have asked me to write about my effort in 1981 to place the Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System (FED), under legal, non-violent citizens-arrest. The subject resides in my memory like old road-kill. 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."

3:54 p.m. Update Salon has Von Brunn in his own words describing motivations behind '81 kidnapping attempt.

3:36 p.m. Update Nexis records show Von Brunn lives in an apartment in Annapolis, Maryland. At least he did in 2007. Before 2007, he lived in Easton, Maryland. DOB: 1920. His possible e-mails (via We Love DC).

3:29 p.m. Update According to a subsequent Post piece in '83, a D.C. Superior Court judge sentenced Von Brunn to a minimum term of "more than four years" for attempting kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board in 1981. The Post goes on to state that Von Brunn told authorities he wanted to hold board members accountable for country's economic woes.

3:18 p.m. Update: Eerie. This is the Post account of Von Brunn's trial in '83:

"A D.C. Superior Court jury yesterday convicted a New Hampshire man of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board, stemming from a 1981 incident in which the man was arrested at the board's headquarters carrying several weapons.

According to police, James Von Brunn, 61, of Lebanon, N.H., told them after his arrest that he wanted to take board members hostage....

Von Brunn entered the board's headquarters at 21st Street and Constitution Avenue NW with a bag slung over his shoulder. He was captured by a guard after running to the second floor, where the board was meeting. He was detained outside the board room and was carrying a revolver, a hunting knife and a sawed-off shotgun, police said.

The jury yesterday convicted Von Brunn of attempted kidnaping while armed, second-degree burglary, assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a pistol without a license and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon."

2:55 p.m. Update: James W. Von Brunn's records in D.C. Superior Court show he was found guilty by a jury on March 2, 1983 after being charged with Assault w/ Deadly Weapon (gun) and Armed Burglary. It appears that there were 15 counts charged by prosecutors. The case opened in June 9, 1982. It is unclear what sentence he received but he was sentenced to a period of confinement. Check below for his own crazy-ass take on his Superior Court experience.

2: 41 p.m. Update MSNBC confirms name of alleged shooter: James W. Von Brunn.

2:10 p.m. Update: Shooter is allegedly a white male born in 1920. Sources: here. Alleged man's alleged's name: James W. Von Brunn. We Love DC comes up with some anti-Semitic stuff on a website by Von Brunn.

Website is full of hate; Holocaust written in quotes.

2:04 p.m. Update: Washington Post updates its piece on the Holocaust Museum shooting with witness interviews:

One witness, Dave Unruh, of Wichita, Kan., said he was waiting to enter the museum when he heard one gunshot, then a sequence of four or five gunshots. He said he then heard someone scream, "Hit the floor!." He and his wife, Karen, and their two teenage grandchildren hit the floor and were subsequently herded out of the building by authorities.

1:57 p.m. Update: CNN is reporting that a private security guard and another person were shot in the early afternoon at the Holocaust Museum. Both were taken to G.W. Hospital and are in serious condition:

Dave Pearson, a 6th grade teacher in the Washington, D.C., area, said he was on the museum's fourth floor when he heard a loud noise.

"At the time, we're visiting and all of a sudden there's like a boom, and all of a sudden they told us to stop where we're at," he told CNN's Ed Henry.

On the alleged shooter's alleged name's website, there's a bio. So far I haven't seen this guy confirmed as the alleged shooter. But here it is apparently written by the man himself. I'm only taking part of it:

"In 1981 Von Brunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest. He was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal. He served 6.5 years in federal prison."

WJLA is reporting that a gunman walked into the Holocaust Museum and started shooting. There are reports that two people were wounded.

"At least two people are wounded after a shootout at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Southwest Washington Wednesday afternoon, D.C. police assistant Chief Diane Groomes told ABC 7 News. Groomes said one person was shot inside the building and one person was shot outside. A third person may have been wounded.

D.C. police spokeswoman Traci Hughes says a person walked into the museum with a rifle and shot a guard. Hughes says the shooter was also shot."

WTOP is reporting that the suspect was fired upon and shot by two security guards inside the museum. A third person was injured by flying glass. Both suspect and guard were taken to G.W. Hospital.

AP is reporting that there was a possible third shooting victim.

The Washington Post reports that police were notified at 12:52 p.m. about the shooting:

"U.S. Park Police said a gunman opened fire on the security guard and that other security guards returned fire. The gunman was reported wounded.

The shooting was reported to police at 12:52 p.m., and officers rushed to the scene just south of Independence Ave. bordering the Mall.

D.C. Fire Department spokesman Alan Etter said there was no immediate information on the shooter. Nor was it immediately clear serious the injuries were..."

After two officers were injured and a suspect was fatally shot early Saturday morning at Champlain and Kalorama streets in Adams Morgan, Councilmember Jim Graham got on the Listserv, of course. Rather than merely informing residents of the incident and investigation, he offered up some pats on his own back for efforts to open Champlain at what he describes as the "NOTORIOUS" spot where it deadends under the Marie Reed breezeway. Graham let us know that he's secured the funding for this project and pushed for bids to go out June 2.

In a phone interview today, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Bryan Weaver lifts the veil of tension between him and his councilmember on this issue. "When you use the incident as a way to push...personal agendas, it's not fair to the police officers who were shot and on the scene immediately, who took the life of another human being."

And it's not about Champlain's dead zone being particularly dangerous, he says. "In many ways, [the closed street] is a perfect storm of bad city managment, bad public policy, and conditions of a wildly gentrifying area, cultivated in one area."

But, yes, says Weaver: "It probably is time to open the breezeway."

The original plan of the street---the one that closed it off at Kalorama---was designed so that people could easily walk to a Marie Reed that was supposed to be a catchall community resource: a school, a health clinic, a rec center, a senior center, says Weaver. Now the place comes off as dangerous, at the most, unfriendly, at the least, and it sits close to half-million-dollar condos bought by people who'd be more likely to be look to Mint Fitness than Marie Reed's community pool.

If Weaver had his way, the street would open AND some of that earmark money Graham is famous for securing would go to remaking Marie Reed into the inviting place it was intended to be, "especially at a time when Boys & Girls Clubs are closing in this city....If we're going to do the one thing---opening the street so that traffic can get out of Adams Morgan---why not this? I view it as a win-win. The people who want the reopening will get it and the people who still want a safe, dignified community center could get that, too."

So: Although Weaver's against using the recent shooting as a way to take credit for opening the dead zone of Champlain, he's not opposed to it starting a conversation on improving Marie Reed.

And about that incident: According to Weaver, one of the cops was treated and released after being grazed by a bullet; the other's "going to make a full recovery, but it could take awhile." A low-caliber bullet is still lodged in his tissue and doctors are considering leaving it there, since it's not damaging any major organs.

Photo of "trashy twins" by M.V. Jantzen

"I am told the boy did not live in the immediate area but may live elsewhere in Ward 1.

MPD tells me he will fully recover.

But now we have the allegation that there is a drug house operating at 1833 Monroe that has been reported to MPD. And further than the shots may have come from that vicinity."

Shooting, 1989

"At approximately 12:08 am, on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, members assigned to the Department’s Seventh District responded to the 4300 block of Wheeler Road, SE for the report of the sounds of gunshots.  Upon arrival on the scene, officers located an adult male suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.  He was subsequently transported by DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The decedent in this case is identified as 22-year-old Richard B. Robinson."

Yesterday, an important moment came between all the memorials and tributes marking the two-year anniversary of the massacre at Virgina Tech. Two victims' families filed lawsuits in Fairfax County. The families of Julia Kathleen Pryde and Erin Nicole Peterson had opted out of the $11 million settlement and had to meet a two-year time limit to file suits. They met their deadline.

Good for them.

I had a feeling the Peterson family would choose to fight over taking such a settlement. I had met them just hours after the tragedy. They had still not heard about their daughter. They waited in the lobby of a hotel/conference center. The medical examiner had quit for the night. The family refused to sleep.

In the morning after, the Peterson family still hadn't gotten word from the ME. They were furious. I was there in the lobby. They grew suspicious of Tech's volunteer handlers and flacks.They wanted to express their anger to reporters. The handlers tried to shield them, prevent them from talking, from straying far from the script. I chronicled the tense scene for a cover story.

Here's what the family told me about Erin:

Erin picked Virginia Tech because it was still close enough to home. This past weekend, she had been accepted into the university’s honor society fraternity and her parents drove down to take her shopping and out to dinner.

“She was just a super child,” says William Lloyd, Erin’s godfather. “Never ran the streets. Her and her dad, man, you couldn’t separate them. He lost a child from cancer —a daughter, 8 years old. A week later, [Erin] was born.”

The only time Erin and her father, Grafton, parted ways was when the Redskins played the Cowboys. “She was a Redskin,” Lloyd says. “He was a Cowboy.”

If you knew Erin, you'd be angry too. Mary Peterson told the volunteers that she was tried of watching them drink coffee. She wanted answers. Maybe now, the family will get those answers.

The two families would certainly have a supporter in Lucinda Roy, a V-Tech professor who tried to help Cho. She recently published a book called No Right To Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech. Yesterday afternoon, I heard her on NPR. She mourned the loss of her students. But she also mourned the behavior of the school's administration both before and after the tragedy. She suggested they simply have not done enough to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

Roy had tutored Cho one-on-one and had pressed him to get counseling. Yet, Roy told NPR, the administration has not once asked her for advice on how to prevent such tragedies from happening again. They never once solicited her experience or insight in the past two years.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Yesterday, the U.S. Park Police were involved in a shooting of a District resident at 2nd and K Streets NE. The shooting took place in the early afternoon.

Davin Tarr was home working on his taxes. He was sitting on his couch in his 11th Floor apartment on Eye Street between 2nd and Third, he says, when he heard a pop, pop, pop.

And then Tarr heard another pop, pop, pop. "There were two bursts of them, pretty close together," he recalls.

This wasn't the normal city noises he was used to. Tarr decided to see what was going on outside his window.  According to the park police, Tarr apparently heard the officers fire on Ronald Hughes after he allegedly struck one of the officers with his car.

Hughes managed to drive off. Tarr was able to capture his failed escape.

Tarr grabbed his Nikon D300 and began snapping away at the scene below which he posted on Flickr. The photos have generated a fair amount of comments as they detail the standoff between Hughes and the Park Police.

Tarr's photo series shows Hughes attempting his getaway, sputtering into a wall and then driving down 2nd Street NE until a police cruiser boxes Hughes in. Hughes--who was injured in the shooting--is eventually dragged out of his car by his undershirt. "They were mostly trying to get his shirt off of him," Tarr says.

“At that point, he wasn’t putting up much resistance or anything," Tarr adds. "The cops were acting pretty professional in my layman’s opinion. They acted swiftly but carefully.”

Tarr adds that the police held Hughes in place until paramedics arrived a short time later.

Of Hughes, Tarr says: "I think he was basically surrendering at that point. He got down on the ground without any struggle. The cops didn’t do anything with him. They just made sure he stayed there. It looks more dramatic in the photos.”

After Tarr's photos hit the web, he says he got an e-mail from a U.S. Park Police detective. The police asked for copies of his pictures. Tarr says he gave his consent.

Tarr shrugs off the attention, explaining that it was just "an interesting day out on the street.”

Photo By Davin Tarr.

The flier includes vital info [PDF] so take a look. As of yesterday afternoon, police had no suspects and no firm motive for the shooting. A $50,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the murderer.

If you have information, call Det. Paul Regan at (202) 425-5563 (cell) or (202) 645-0472 or Det. Doug Carlson on (202) 486-0233 (cell) or (202) 645-6360; if you'd prefer to stay anonymous, call 1-888-919-2746 or send a text to 50411.

Acting Lt. Brett Parson was on the scene of the shooting, which took place at 11th and Q Streets NW. We just got off the phone with Parson. Here is what he had to say:

“I was on the scene. It was horrible. We got a 35 year old who is dead as a result of an apparent gunshot wound and we got no suspects at this point. We have no motive whatsoever at this point.

The theory right now and it’s only a theory is we're looking at it as a botched robbery and we don’t have any conclusive evidence of a motive....

He has a very large family. I did not know him. His family has been notified at this point. He has family as far away as Portugal and also California, locally he has a brother that lives in Virginia. He has many brothers and sisters. He has a surviving mother....

He was a waiter."

Parson says he notified the family at six or seven a.m.: “It’s never easy to notify a loved one. It’s a task that no one wants to do. I can only hope that we do it in a sensitive professional way that somehow cushions it in some way. But there’s no way to do it and not be anguished. It’s the worst phone call you ever have to make.”

WJLA reports that the shooting took place at 4th and W Streets NW. The location is about a block from Howard University's campus:

"The shooting happened around 4:30 p.m. Shortly afterward, police officers from the Third District arrived at the scene and observed a black male suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

D.C. resident Theresa Price heard the commotion, rushed out of her apartment and saw what appeared to be a male teenager wounded in a nearby alley. 'All I heard was boom, boom, boom, boom,' Price said."

On Saturday it was the ice pick incident. And now a murder. This is ridiculous.

Cops have taken to sitting in their cars in the dark area where Champlain Street dead-ends because it's a well-known problem area. (Yeah, we know that, too.) The street is eventually going to open up, limiting its dark corners, which is a great move.

But about the shooting: No one feels at ease when someone gets shot to death in their neighborhood, especially when the shooting happens in a playground near a busy commercial strip at 8 o'clock in the evening. Especially when the shooter gets away. And, especially for some on my neighborhood forum, when you live in Northwest near what you think is scary Section 8 housing.

Leave it to the yahoos on the Adams Morgan Listserv to blame the murder on public housing even though "I fully support it," says "Dave."

Having lived on 18th street for 5 years now, and on a daily basis drive by the corner of Kalorama &  Champlain, it's because of the section 8 housing that exists there. On dozens of occasions my wife and/or I have been harassed by groups of guys just "hanging out" on the corner there. Whether walking by with the dog (which we don't do anymore) or driving by, it's unbelievable what goes on on that corner. I understand the need for subsidized housing, and I fully support it. But this is where one of the main problems in our neighborhood lies. Having a cop sit in his car around the corner from here obviously doesnt deter anything, as proved by yesterdays shooting.

This is the classic liberal B.S. disguised as "concern" that is the hallmark of some squeaky wheels in Adams Morgan. Fortunately Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Bryan Weaver gets his facts straight: The scary housing where people "hang out" is a resident-owned co-op. I guess "Dave" will have to find someone else to blame, I mean other than the murderer who open-fired.