Murder at the Holocaust Museum — another American horror story.
This was a political murder, one of a trio in recent weeks.
The symbolism for this third one was lurid, the location a sacrilege, the victim a martyr and the suspected perpetrator something much more than a delusional old man.
He was the ever-recurring face of the American self-righteous terrorist, he was Timothy McVeigh with a .22 rifle instead of a truck bomb.
Honors for the victim were immediate.
According to The Associated Press, dozens of bouquets near the Holocaust Museum entrance formed a makeshift memorial to the slain guard, 39-year-old Stephen T. Johns.
On top of one bouquet was a photo of Johns, who was black, with the inscription, "Truly a righteous Gentile."
He died trying to keep a white supremacist with a rifle from entering the museum that is dedicated to the millions of Jews and other minority group members who suffered under the Nazis and Adolf Hitler.
Authorities in the District of Columbia say James Wenneker von Brunn, 88, from nearby Annapolis, Md., shot Johns, who was holding the door open for the old man, and would have killed more if he had not himself been shot in the face by return fire from the guards.
The authorities say they may charge von Brunn with hate crimes also.
The entire episode, from start to finish, was caught on the museum's security tapes.
This was murder No. 3 in the recent domestic terrorism campaign.
There was the murder of Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita, Kan., physician who performed late-term abortions. He was gunned down while serving as an usher at his church. His accused attacker, 51-year-old Scott Roeder from a Kansas City suburb, was taken into custody and jailed.
Roeder has a history of anti-abortion activities and belonged to the so-called "Freeman" society, a group claiming it is exempt from U.S. laws and taxes.
To read the complete editorial, visit The Tri-City Herald.
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